Just two weeks after the murder of Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinowa, the alleged perpetrator has been charged with murder and rape. The Bulgarian Severin K., who was arrested in Germany and extradited to his homeland, is to remain in pre-trial detention pending the beginning of a trial.
Upon arriving at the courthouse in the northern city of Russe, Severin K. told reporters he was guilty. "I'm sorry, I can not believe I did that." He attacked Marinowa but could not remember anything, said the 21-year-old. He was arrested on 10 October in Stade and subsequently taken to the Bulgarian capital Sofia.
The body of 30-year-old Marinova was found on 7 October in a park on the Danube bank in Ruse. The presenter of the local cable TVN was jogging there. The Bulgarian authorities are not suggesting any link between the act and Marinova's journalistic work.
The Bulgarian investigators discovered own genetic material of the man on the body of the dead. German investigators had told Severin K. that he had beaten an unknown woman, but denied killing. If convicted, he faces a life imprisonment.