Suspect in Bulgarian journalist slaying arrested in Germany

A portrait of slain television reporter Viktoria Marinova is placed on the Liberty Monument next to flowers and candles during a vigil in Ruse, Bulgaria, Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018. Bulgarian police are investigating the rape, beating and slaying of Marinova, whose body was dumped near the Danube River after she reported on the possible misuse of European Union funds in Bulgaria. Authorities discovered the body of 30-year-old Viktoria Marinova on Saturday in the northern town of Ruse near the Romanian border. One Bulgarian media site demanded an EU investigation, fearing that Bulgarian officials were complicit in the corruption. (AP Photo/Filip Dvorski)

SOFIA, Bulgaria – A suspect in the rape and killing of a Bulgarian television journalist whose work highlighted corruption in the East European country has been arrested in Germany, officials said Wednesday.

Bulgaria's prosecutor general, Sotir Tsatsarov, confirmed the arrest of Severin Krassimirov, a 21-year-old Bulgarian citizen, but gave no further details of his location. German authorities were not immediately available.

"We are currently following a European arrest procedure. The German prosecutor has arrested the suspect, they will then assess how to proceed," Tsatsarov said.

He said it evidence suggested it was "a spontaneous attack, not premeditated."

Interior Minister Mladen Marinov said investigators had found DNA evidence on the clothes and body of Viktoria Marinova, who was raped and strangled on Saturday in the northern town of Ruse.

"There is physical evidence to link to the murder," Marinov said Wednesday. He said Krasimirov, a resident of Ruse, had a criminal record for scrap metal theft.

The minister said investigators had spoken to Marinova's family and friends and "there is no apparent link to her work."

Marinova hosted a show last month featuring two investigative journalists who were detained for their work on suspected fraud involving European Union funds.

While Marinova didn't appear to have been closely involved in the fraud investigation, her show touched on a sensitive subject in Bulgaria, where corruption is endemic. The Balkan nation, which joined the EU in 2007, was ranked 71st on Transparency International's corruption list last year.

Joining the bloc opened an enormous spigot of possible new funding for Bulgarian infrastructure projects or other programs designed to bring the nation up to EU standards.

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Teodora Barzakova in Ruse, Bulgaria, and Alison Mutler in Bucharest, Romania, contributed.

"Severin Krassimirov will first be questioned by a German court so that he can be extradited back home." PM Boyko Borissov

He gave his condolences to the victim's relatives and thanked everyone who had worked on the investigation.

He also said all the DNA data they have will be provided to the German authorities.

On Wed, Oct 10, 2018 at 9:35 AM Teodora Barzakova teodora.barzakova@gmail.com wrote:

Severin Nadejdov Krassimirov, born 1997 in Ruse

Marinov also said - "The DNA evidence is conclusive."