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The journalists killed in EU member states in the past year

Viktoria Marinova’s death follows that of Daphne Caruana Galizia and Jan Kuciak

From left, Victoria Marinova, Daphne Caruana Galizia and Jan Kuciak

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Theodor Troev in Sofia, Kerin Hope in Athens and FT reporters yesterday

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Viktoria Marinova has become the third journalist to be killed in an EU member state in the past year. The body of the Bulgarian television presenter was found in a park in the Danube town of Ruse on Saturday.

Marinova’s violent death follows that of Slovakian journalist Jan Kuciak in February and the assassination of Maltese investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia in a car-bomb attack in October 2017.

While Bulgarian police are still investigating motives, Frans Timmermans, European Commission vice-president, linked the murder with Ms Marinova’s work on corruption. Days before her killing, she presented a show featuring two reporters investigating the alleged misuse of EU funds by several Bulgarian and Romanian construction companies.

“Again a courageous journalist falls in the fight for truth and against corruption,” Mr Timmermans tweeted. “Those responsible should be brought to justice immediately by the Bulgarian authorities.”

On Monday, Margaritis Schinas, chief commission spokesperson, said: “The Commission expects a swift and thorough investigation by the responsible authorities that will bring those responsible to justice and clarify whether this attack was linked to her work. We must make sure that journalists everywhere are safe and make their invaluable contributions to our democratic societies.”

He referred to comments made by Jean-Claude Juncker, commission president, in his state of the union speech last month: “Europe must always be a place where freedom of the press is sacrosanct. Too many of our journalists are intimidated, attacked, murdered. There is no democracy without a free press.”

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Olaf, the EU’s anti-fraud watchdog, said it was “aware of allegations concerning the possible misuse of EU funds in Bulgaria that have been brought to light by journalists in recent weeks”. It said it launched a preliminary assessment last month of whether it should mount an investigation into the matter.

The head of Bulgaria’s state prosecution service, Nice, Sotir Tsatsarov, told a news conference on Tuesday in Ruse: “We can’t say whether the main motive [for the killing] was her journalistic work or the theme of her TV shows.”

Although unrelated to corruption, 30-year-old Swedish freelance journalist Kim Wall was brutally murdered by Danish inventor Peter Madsen in August last year, as she interviewed him on his home made submarine.

Victims of violence

Viktoria Marinova

© AFP

The Bulgarian journalist was a presenter and administrative director at TVN, a popular local station, in the northern city of Ruse. According to Mladen Marinov, Bulgarian interior minister, Marinova had been raped and died from asphyxiation and head injuries.

Colleagues at TVN, a private channel, said Marinova, 30, went jogging on Saturday to prepare for a road race.

Hosting the first episode of a show, Lie-Detector, on September 30, the presenter introduced an interview with two reporters from Rise Project, a Romanian group of investigative reporters and activists, and Bivol, a similar Bulgarian organisation, who were probing suspected embezzlement of EU structural funds by local contractors.

The reporters were arrested by Bulgarian police last month while trying to film people connected with the investigation but were freed several hours later following the intervention of Romanian authorities.

Jan Kuciak

© AP

The 27-year-old Slovakian investigative journalist and his fiancée were found dead at their house in Velka Maca, about 50km east of Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava, in February. They had both been shot.

Kuciak had worked for the Aktuality.sk news website for three years and had written a number of articles on tax evasion.

Tibor Gaspar, Slovakia’s police chief, said the “most likely motive” for the killings was related to Kuciak’s investigative activities, but he did not provide further details.

Commenting at the time, Antonio Tajani, president of the European Parliament, said: “The EU cannot accept that a journalist is killed for doing his job . . . the European Parliament will not rest until justice is done.”

Slovak prosecutors have charged four people in connection with Kuciak’s murder and said last week that they could charge more people in future.

Daphne Caruana Galizia

© Reuters

The high-profile Maltese investigative journalist was killed in a car bomb explosion in October 2017 in an attack that drew condemnation from around Europe. Caruana Galizia had blogged just before she died about her country’s “desperate” corruption problem.

Caruana Galizia had won a wide following, and drawn multiple lawsuits from public figures, for her coverage of alleged corruption across the political spectrum in Malta. Her final blog post ended: “There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate.”

Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, condemned the attack in the strongest terms. A spokesman said: “The right of a journalist to investigate, ask uncomfortable questions and report effectively is at the heart of our values and needs to be guaranteed at all times. We trust now that justice will be brought even if this will not be enough to right this wrong.”

And there is this: European Union demands freedom for two Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union called on Monday for the immediate and unconditional release of two Reuters journalists handed jail sentences in Myanmar for their reporting of the Rohingya crisis.

Detained Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo leave Insein court after listening to the verdict in Yangon, Myanmar September 3, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer

Earlier on Monday a Myanmar judge found Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, guilty of breaching a law on state secrets and jailed them for seven years.

The EU’s foreign policy service said the sentence “undermines the freedom of the media, the public’s right to information and the development of the rule of law in Myanmar”.

“The prison sentences of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo should be reviewed and the two journalists be released immediately and unconditionally,” it said in a statement.