EU calls for probe into Bulgarian journalist murder
October 7, 2018
The TV journalist had recently hosted on her show investigative journalists working on corruption. Germany has called for a "fast investigation" to find out what happened to Viktoria Marinova.
Image: BGNES
Advertisement
Journalism: A dangerous activity
In the first 10 months of 2018, 73 journalists and media workers have died — and not just in war zones. Threats to investigative reporters are increasing, with a number being arrested and jailed over the last year.
Image: Getty Images/C. McGrath
Viktoria Marinova, Bulgaria
The 30-year-old TV presenter had recently hosted investigative journalists working on alleged corruption involving European Union funds. She was brutally murdered in the northern Bulgarian town of Ruse in October 2018.
Image: BGNES
Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia
The 60-year-old author, <i>Washington Post</i> columnist and former editor-in-chief of Al Arab News Channel was last seen walking into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 to get papers to verify his divorce. His fiancee waited outside for 11 hours, and she says he never came out. Khashoggi had previously said he believed the Saudi leadership wanted to kill him.
Image: Reuters/Middle East Monitor
Samim Faramarz, Ramiz Ahmadi, Afghanistan
TV news reporter Samim Faramarz was killed in September 2018 with his cameraman Ramiz Ahmadi when they were reporting from the scene of an explosion in the west of Kabul. The car bomb went off just meters from where they were just finishing a live report. Afghanistan remains the deadliest place in the world to be a journalist.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Marai
Mario Gomez, Mexico
After Afghanistan and Syria, Mexico is the most dangerous nation for journalists. There were 14 journalists killed in 2017, and at least 10 more lost their lives in 2018. Mario Gomez, a 35-year-old correspondent, was shot dead by armed men as he left his home in Chiapas in September 2018. He had reportedly received death threats after investigating corruption among state officials.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/Y. Cortez
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, Myanmar
Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had reported the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim villagers. They were arrested in December 2017 after being invited to meet police for dinner in Yangon. In September 2018, after 39 court appearances and 265 days in detention, they were jailed for seven years for breaching the 1923 Official Secrets Act.
Image: Reuters/A. Wang
Marlon de Carvalho Araujo, Brazil
A major issue in Brazil's election campaign was corruption. Radio journalist Marlon de Carvalho Araujo focused on reporting graft, and he wrote on corruption involving officials at various levels of the Bahia regional administration. In August 2018, four gunmen burst into his home in the early hours and shot him dead.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Sa
Shujaat Bukhari, Kashmir
Kashmir journalist Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead outside his newspaper office in Srinagar in June 2018. A contributor to DW, he advocated a peaceful resolution to the conflict between India and Pakistan over the mountainous region.
Image: twitter.com/bukharishujaat
The Capital, Maryland, USA
Editor Wendi Winters, her assistant Robert Hiaasen, writer Gerald Fischman, reporter John McNamara and sales assistant Rebecca Smith died when a gunman shot through the glass door into their office in June 2018. The man, who had filed a defamation lawsuit against the paper, was arrested at the scene and charged with their murders.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Ngan
Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova, Slovakia
An ex-police officer was named as the killer of investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his partner Martina Kusnirova in February 2018. The murders sparked mass protests and led to the resignation of the prime minister. Kuciak had been investigating ties between government officials and the Italian mafia.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/D. Voijnovic
Daphne Caruana Galizia, Malta
Daphne Caruana Galizia, an investigative journalist who linked Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to the Panama Papers scandal, was killed when a bomb destroyed her car in October 2017.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/L.Klimkeit
10 images1 | 10
A television journalist was brutally murdered in the northern Bulgarian town of Ruse, prosecutors said Sunday. She had been beaten, raped and strangled, authorities said.
Viktoria Marinova, who reported on an investigation into alleged corruption involving European Union funds, died from blows to her head and suffocation, regional prosecutor Georgy Georgiev said.
The 30-year-old's body was found in a park on Saturday. "Her mobile phone, car keys, glasses and part of her clothes were missing," Georgiev said.
Bulgarian Interior Minister Mladen Marinov said there was no evidence to suggest that the murder was linked to her work.
Marinova was a board member of the Ruse-based TV station TVN. She recently reported on an investigation by a group of Bulgarian journalists into companies involved in EU-funded infrastructure projects administered by local authorities.
Marinova had recently hosted investigative journalists working on corruption in Bulgaria on her morning showImage: Reuters
'Worst performer in the EU'
But not everyone believes her death is unconnected to her work.
Daniel Kaddik, media expert and head of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation's office in Bulgaria, told DW that the situation for press freedom in the country is so dire that many citizens immediately thought a political motive was likely behind the murder.
"What is interesting is that Bulgarian civil society has quickly jumped on this case, and nobody has any doubt that it might be a politically motivated act," Kaddik said.
"Bulgaria ranks 111th in the world in terms of press freedom. That makes Bulgaria not only the worst performer in the EU but in the whole of the Balkans."
Calls for speedy investigation
The German Foreign Ministry urged Bulgarian authorities to ensure "there is a fast investigation and that this horrible event will be illuminated as comprehensively as possible." The EU Commission also called for a "swift and thorough" probe into the murder.
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov didn't comment on a motive, but said he expects the police to find the perpetrators quickly.
"I am convinced it is a matter of time before the murder would be revealed. The best criminologists were sent to Ruse, let's not press them. A large amount of DNA has been obtained," Borisov said.
Poor press freedom record
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) media freedom representative, Harlem Desir, condemned Marinova's killing on Twitter, saying that "those responsible must be held to account."
Reporters Without Borders, which ranked Bulgaria 111th out of 180 countries in its 2018 World Press Freedom Index, called for an urgent investigation into the murder.
A spokeswoman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag said Marinova's killing was a "continuation of an appalling trend over the last 12 months."
"Doing critical research is becoming increasingly dangerous for investigative journalists in some countries," spokeswoman Elisabeth Motschmann told DW. "Every journalist murder is a cowardly attack on the freedom of the press, and therefore also on free, pluralistic societies."
More journalists killed in EU
Marinova is the third journalist to have been murdered in the EU in a year.
Press freedom ranking 2017: From Norway to North Korea
The "Reporter Without Borders" report reveals in which countries journalists can work freely, and where censorship and oppression are rampant. On World Press Day, we show who's leading and who's picking up the rear.
Image: DW/A. Foncillas
The leader: Norway
Nowhere in the world can journalists work as freely as in Norway, the "Reporters Without Borders" report says. It ranks number one among 180 countries. That has to do with the diversity of the media: Norwegians have some 200 newspapers to choose from. Government agencies' duty to disclose data and state subsidizing of media institutions also contribute to Norway's high marks in press freedom.
Picking up the rear: North Korea
North Korea is at the bottom of the list of 180 countries. Journalists must adhere to a strict "information policy," which exults the superiority of former leader Kim Jong-il's legacy and of his son, Kim Jong-un. Televisions and radios can only pick up state broadcasters, meaning that the media is completely isolated. Those who criticize the system must reckon with draconian measures.
Image: DW/A. Foncillas
Mid-field: The United States
The US ranks 43rd - two spots down from the previous year. Widespread NSA surveillance during former President Barack Obama's administration is one reason for the drop. Improvement, however, remains at bay: Various law suits and public broadsides on the part of his successor, Donald Trump, against journalists and the freewheeling handling of "alternative facts" are alarming press representatives.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/P. Steffen
Upward climber: Italy
Italy has moved up 25 notches - to spot 52 - as compared to 2016. As the grip of Silvio Berlusconi's media empire on politics weakens, journalists can now work more freely. Still, organized crime continues to have a marked impact. Six journalists remain under police protection due to mafia death threats.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Di Meo
Relegated spot: Nicaragua
The 2016 re-election and ensuing fourth term of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega mean one thing for government critics: harassment and repression. Ortega and his family control the judiciary and the television market. Nicaragua made the biggest drop in the press freedom ranking for last year, moving down 17 notches to spot 92.
Press freedom is highly regarded in Germany, with the country keeping its spot at 16 - the same as the previous year. But there is still cause for concern: Especially during right-wing demonstrations, violent attacks and threats toward journalists have increased. According to a study by conflict researcher Andreas Zick, more and more journalists exercise self-censorship as they work.
