Spain talk show condemned over death
A Spanish TV station is facing legal action after duping a Russian woman into a confrontation with her ex-boyfriend that eventually led to her death. 30-year-old mother, Svetlana Orlova, was killed just days after refusing an on-air marriage proposal.
30-year-old Spaniard Ricardo Navarro, who was on a restraining order for domestic violence at the time, denies charges of murder.
The channel which broadcast “Patricia’s Diary” has condemned Svetlana's killing, but says it does everything possible to screen guests.
The incident triggered a strong response in Spain with calls to scrap the show and review programmes of its kind.
President of Valencia's Supreme Court, Juan Luis De La Rua commented on the issue: “The consequences of those programmes are yet to be evaluated – those shows are often times a road or means that add fire to a heated situation. Perhaps we should re-examine those TV programmes and their potential consequences”.
Women's groups also blame the programme for bringing the woman together with her ex-boyfriend.
Director for Gender Violence from the Spanish Progressivist Women Federation, Covadonga Naredo, said that Svetlana didn't know what she had been summoned for. “When she is before him there and she hears his proposal, knee on the floor and ring on hand her non-verbal reaction unfolds, all in her showed discomfort.”
Mother identifies the body
On Tuesday, Svetlana Orlova’s mother has arrived in the city of Alicante. She visited the morgue and identified her daughters body.
“Today two of Svetlana's former school mates met her mother together with me. Right now Svetlana's mother is staying here in Alicante. She needed medical help after we were in the morgue and now requires some rest. Today she had to identify the body. Tomorrow we are going to the court to arrange some procedural issues. And also the mother is going to make a statement and ask people for financial help to repatriate the body. There is not enough money yet. Today we got only 150 euros. But we need some seven to eight thousand,” Aleksandr Chepurnov, the Head of the Association for Eastern European Immigrants, commented.
