According to a report in British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, a teenage Muslim girl who had participated in a Ukrainian beauty pageant was stoned to death — however, controversy surrounds media reports in the wake of her death.

The body of Katya Koren, the 19-year-old who went missing after allegedly being ‘punished’ for violating Sharia Law, was found in a forest one week later.

Police reports suggest that Koren received head injuries, which may have caused her death.
The Telegraph reports that there were conflicting stories of the motive behind the killing. Local newspapers claimed she was stoned to death by hardline Muslims who were angered by her participation in the beauty contest.

But the police said her killing had nothing to do with sectarian violence and that the girl had been killed by a psychologically troubled classmate who had possibly raped her before battering her to death with a rock.
“A student did it, killing his classmate. There is no other underlying reason, neither religious nor linked with inter-ethnic conflicts,” said Sergei Reznikov, a senior policeman involved in the case.

The Daily Mail reports that the glamorous Muslim beauty queen may actually have been battered with a rock by a crazed stalker after she spurned his advances.

According to a report in the Huffington Post, Chairman of the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar People said the detained teenager, who is of Crimean Tatar descent, was pressured by police into accepting the blame for the murder.

“The killing was covered in a distorted way, as if it was a religiously motivated murder, by the media around the world,” he is quoted as saying.

Though initial reports claimed Koren, like her assailants, was Muslim, officials like the chairman now say she is actually Christian with Russian roots.

“The girl was not Muslim. All these [reports] are a provocation and fabricated news.”


Tags: Teenage Beauty Queen Stoned To Death, Katya Koren