Officials said there was no evidence that the brutal death of Viktoria Marinova, 30, was linked to her work, but international concern quickly spread.<\/b>
\nWARSAW \u2014 When the body of a 30-year-old woman, bruised, beaten and raped, was discovered on Saturday in a park in the city of Ruse in northeastern Bulgaria, the grisly crime scene stunned a nation where corruption is endemic but murder is relatively rare.
The victim was identified on Sunday as Viktoria Marinova, a journalist who was the host of a new talk show called \u201cDetector\u201d that offered a venue for investigative reporters, and national shock over her brutal death quickly spread to international concern.
Although there was some disagreement about the extent of Ms. Marinova\u2019s role in investigating corruption, the questions surrounding her death reflected the tense atmosphere for journalists in the region: Two reporters in the European Union \u2014 Jan Kuciak in Slovakia and Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta \u2014 have been killed in the past year because of the work they were doing to expose graft at the highest levels of government.
Bulgarian officials condemned the attack on Ms. Marinova, but they were also insistent that there was nothing to suggest that she had been killed because of her work. They said there was no evidence that she had been threatened, and noted that her car keys, her cellphone and parts of her clothing were missing.
\u201cIt is about rape and murder,\u201d Interior Minister Mladen Marinov said, a viewpoint that was shared by Prime Minister Boiko Borisov.
\u201cThe best criminologists were sent to Ruse, let\u2019s not press them,\u201d Mr. Borisov said. \u201cA large amount of DNA has been obtained.\u201d
Ms. Marinova was last seen alive Saturday morning, when she had coffee with friends and then went for a run along the Danube River.
The prosecutor general, Sotir Tsatsarov, told reporters in Ruse on Monday that nothing would be ruled out, but he also said that it was unlikely the killing was connected to her work.
\u201cThe hypothesis about linking the murder to her work and the topics she covered in her program is not a leading one,\u201d he said, refusing to offer more details about the continuing investigation.
Still, some European Union lawmakers and press freedom advocates were hesitant to accept the government\u2019s suggestion that Ms. Marinova\u2019s work was coincidental to her death.
\u201cThose responsible must be held to account,\u201d Harlem Desir, a representative for media freedom at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, wrote on Twitter, urging a full investigation.
The brutal crimes shook Ruse, where murders are rare. There were only five murders last year in the small city of about 150,000. Across Bulgaria, which has a population of a little more than 7 million, the police reported 260 killings.
In 2016, there were 1.1 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in Bulgaria. In the United States, the murder rate in 2016 was 5.3 per 100,000.
Bulgaria has been ranked among the most corrupt nations in the European Union and among the worst in terms of press freedom. More than 10 years after joining the bloc, it has reported only limited progress in turning the tide against graft.
The Center for the Study of Democracy, based in the capital, Sofia, outlined in a report last year a portrait of a state so riddled with graft that one in five adults, or 1.3 million people, were thought to have taken part in a corrupt transaction, such as paying or receiving a bribe.
A 2016 report from the research organization RAND Europe estimated that every year, the country loses $7 billion to $12 billion because of corruption \u2014 a fifth of its gross domestic product.
At the same time, the number of independent media outlets reporting on corruption has fallen. The Union of Publishers in Bulgaria, in a report issued in May, found that \u201cgrowing collusion between publishers, oligarchs and political parties during the past decade has resulted in a major decline in the press freedom.\u201d
Teodor Zahov, the organization\u2019s president, said in a statement that, \u201cThe pressure on independent media has been systematic for the past 10 years.\u201d
\u201cIt is so sophisticated and lacking in transparency that some people don\u2019t understand it and others don\u2019t believe it,\u201d he said.
In that dismal environment, international concern over Ms. Marinova\u2019s killing \u2014 particularly in the European Union, which has prided itself on its support for press freedom \u2014 was swift to develop.
\u201cWe need to find out quickly whether the murder is connected with Marinova\u2019s research into the misuse of E. U. funds,\u201d said Sven Giegold, a German member of the European Parliament. \u201cFreedom of the press is in acute danger in Europe if research into corruption ends in death.\u201d
The killings of Mr. Kuciak in Slovakia and Ms. Caruana Galizia in Malta caused alarm across the Continent, coming at a time when a new brand of professed populist leaders in the region have used increasingly caustic language to attack reporters, especially those probing corruption.
In February, the 27-year-old Mr. Kuciak and his fianc\u00e9e, Martina Kusnirova, also 27, were shot dead after he began digging into connections between top government officials and organized crime. The police have said the killings were connected to Mr. Kuciak\u2019s work, and they recently arrested several people suspected of involvement, including one man the authorities believe was a paid hit man. He was identified last week as Tomas Szabo, a former police officer who spent nine years on the force but who was reportedly having financial difficulties.
Prosecutors said Mr. Szabo and his accomplices were paid \u201cat least 70,000 euros,\u201d or about $80,000, for the killing of Mr. Kuciak. They believe his fianc\u00e9e was not targeted but was \u201cin the wrong place at the wrong time.\u201d
The authorities in Slovakia say they have narrowed the list of those suspected of ordering the killing but declined to offer any details while the investigation was in progress, noting that the plot may have also involved targeting a high-ranking prosecutor involved in prosecuting corruption.
Public anger over the death of Mr. Kuciak led to large protests and ultimately forced the prime minister, Robert Fico, to resign.
Mr. Kuciak\u2019s murder came several months after one of Malta\u2019s best-known investigative journalists, Ms. Caruana Galizia, 53, was killed when a bomb blew up her car. She was also looking into allegations of money laundering and fraud among the country\u2019s business and political elite. Three men were arrested and accused of planting the bomb.
But that investigation appears to be stalled and there has been no public comment on who might have ordered the killing.
The first episode of Ms. Marinova\u2019s program aired on Sept. 30 and featured two investigative journalists \u2014 Dimitar Stoyanov from the Bivol.bg website and Attila Biro from the Romanian Rise Project \u2014 discussing their investigation into allegations of fraud involving European Union funds linked to prominent businessmen and politicians in Bulgaria.<\/p>\n

\n

Similarity rank: 18<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: -3.4<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

TW posts: 176<\/div>\n

TW reposts: 5<\/div>\n

TW likes: 3<\/div>\n

TW sentiment: -10<\/div>\n<\/div>\n