Bulgarian Gets 30 Years In Jail For TV Presenter's Murder

Sofia, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Apr, 2019 ) :A 21-year-old man was Monday sentenced to 30 years in prison for the brutal rape and murder of a Bulgarian television presenter, avoiding a life term after confessing to the crime.

Severin Krasimirov, also Bulgarian, was arrested in Germany where he had fled after assaulting and killing Viktoria Marinova on October 6.

A court in the northeastern Bulgarian city of Ruse also ordered him to pay 450,000 leva (230,000 Euros, $259,000) to Marinova's family.

Prosecutors said the crime was "linked to sexual motives and had no links to the profession of the victim".

They added that Krasimirov was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the "brutal rape".

The court said Marinova, 30, was killed "in a particularly brutal manner" after being grabbed while jogging in an alley along the Danube.

She was due to present a new programme in which she pledged to unveil serious cases of corruption.

Media watchdog Journalists Without Borders had accused authorities of trying to impede the inquest and sweep the crime under the carpet.