PEN International Women Writers Committee Statement on the murder of Victoria Marinova, Bulgarian investigative journalist

Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova was found dead on 7 October 2018

The Women Writers Committee of PEN International, the largest worldwide association of writers, calls on the government of Bulgaria, Mr. Boyko Borisov, and the President of the European Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, to protect European investigative journalists against threats, persecution, and death.

The assassination of the popular Bulgarian journalist Victoria Marinova is the fourth recent murder of a high-profile investigative journalist within the European Union. Marinova was raped and beaten to death. Her body was found in a park on October 6, 2018.

The European Union is allegedly the guardian of the freedom of opinion, expression and the right to information as cornerstones of democracy. However, the facts deny the regard for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. In August 2017, Swedish reporter Kim Wall was murdered. Shortly after, in October 2017, Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb. In February 2018, Slovakian journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée were shot dead in their house.

Marinova was investigating fraudulent abuse of European Union funds. Other  murdered journalists were investigating related problems such as ties between top politicians and international criminal structures in their countries, the selling of EU citizenship to criminals or establishing ties between politicians and the Mafia.

So far, the murderers in the cases of Caruana Galizia and Jan Kuciak have not been brought to justice, and the investigations of the local law enforcement have been very slow.

PIWWC therefore demands that the Premier Minister of Bulgaria, Mr. Boyko Borisov, undertake all necessary steps to bring the murderers to justice. We also call on the President of European Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, to ensure that the protection of investigative journalism is a main goal in supporting democracy.

Zoë Rodriguez, Chair of the PIWWC

Members of PIWWC Board

Lucina Kathmann, PEN San Miguel

Sarah Lawson, English PEN

Elizabeth Nordgren, PEN Finland

Tanja Tuma, PEN Slovenia