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News > World

Bulgarian Journalist’s Suspected Murderer, Rapist Confesses

  • Bulgarian investigative journalist Viktoria Marinova was found dead in a park in Ruse, Danube Saturday.

    Bulgarian investigative journalist Viktoria Marinova was found dead in a park in Ruse, Danube Saturday. | Photo: Reuters

Published 11 October 2018
Opinion

Krasimirov, a Bulgarian citizen, was detained by German police Tuesday at the request of Bulgarian authorities.

The mother of 20-year-old Severin Krasimirov, arrested in Germany over the rape and murder of Viktoria Marinova, a Bulgarian investigative journalist said Thursday her son has admitted his guilt to her according to Bulgarian TV channel NOVA.

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“He admitted he did it while drunk and heavily on drugs,” Nadezhda Krasimirova, told NOVA TV reporter in Germany, where she lives. “He admitted and started to cry in front of me. He is not like that, I cannot grasp it,” she added.

The body of the 30-year-old journalist was found in a park in Ruse, Danube Saturday, she was identified by her initials.

On her last aired TV show as an anchor on September 30, she introduced two journalists, Dimitar Stoyanov from the Bivol.bg website and Attila Biro from the Romanian Rise Project, who were investigating alleged corruption involving European Union funds linked to businessmen and politicians. According to her, the regional current affairs show, “Detector,” would conduct similar investigations.

“We have enough proof linking this person to the scene of the crime,” Bulgaria’s interior minister, Mladen Marinov said Wednesday. Krasimirov, a resident of Ruse, has a criminal record for scrap metal theft, he said. The minister also explained investigators had spoken to the journalist’s family and friends and added: “There is no apparent link to her work.”

The chief prosecutor, Sotir Tsatsarov, said Krasimirov was already wanted by police in connection with another rape and murder adding that he did not believe the killing of Marinova was connected to her work, suggesting it was a “spontaneous” attack.

Bulgarian prosecutors have charged Krasimirov in absentia for the rape and killing and sought his extradition from Germany to stand trial in Bulgaria.

The suspect left Bulgaria for Germany Sunday, one day after the incident according to a Bulgarian newspaper 168 Chasa.

He was suspected of attacking Marinova while she was jogging in a park on the bank of river Danube.

Another man was detained Tuesday by Bulgarian authorities and later released after questioning.

On Wednesday, the prime minister of Bulgaria, Boyko Borisov criticized the journalists and rights group for connecting the journalist's murder with her investigative work.

“I read monstrous things about Bulgaria in the past three days and nothing was true,” he said. “We, as a country, did not deserve to be smeared like this.”

Bulgaria ranked 111 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders world press freedom index this year. October 2017 also saw a huge protest by Bulgarian journalists in downtown Sofia against threats from Deputy Prime Minister Valeri Simeonov.

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