The head of Romania's Special Telecommunications Service (STS), which is a military and security institution, resigned on Monday in the wake of a major scandal caused by the murder of a teenage girl last week. STS head Ionel Vasilca said however that he did not resign because of guilt, but in order to protect the prestige of the service.

Uonel VasilcaFoto: AGERPRES

• A teenage girl was murdered last week despite having called the 112 emergency number repeatedly to announce she had been abducted and raped by her captor. The police, prosecutors and the STS were all involved in attempts to find her, the failure of which caused public outcry. The STS was accused of having provided false possible locations to investigators - details here.

Resigning STS head Vasilca said he submitted his resignation to the President. He dismissed any "shadow of guilt" over the way STS acted, saying the only reason for the resignation was "not to affect the prestige of the institution".