Germany to extradite suspected killer of Bulgarian journalist within the next 10 days

Anca Alexe 12/10/2018 | 12:07

The man suspected of killing Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova will be extradited from Germany “soon”, said German authorities on Friday.

The court in the town of Celle said the suspect has not opposed extradition, which “will take place within ten days”.

The suspect is Severin Krasimov (21) and he was arrested in Germany on Tuesday. He admitted that he “hit the victim and threw her into a bush” while he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, but added that he did not mean to kill the victim and also denied raping her.

Viktoria Marinova was 30 years old and was a reporter for the local TVN Ruse station. She died after being hit, strangled and raped, and her body was found on October 6 in a park in Ruse town.

The last show she presented, which was aired on September 30, featured two journalists who were investigating several politicians and businessmen for alleged corruption of EU funds.

The two journalists, Romanian Attila Biro, editor of the Romanian investigative site Rise Project, and Dimitar Stoyanov, from Bivol, a Bulgarian investigative news website, were working on an investigation as part of the project “Exposing Fraud in EU-funded Projects in Romania and Bulgaria.” Prior to the interview being aired, the two journalists were also briefly detained by Bulgarian police.