Thousands Mourn Slain Reporter - And Warn Politicians

Michael Hedges February 22, 2019 - Follow on Twitter

Impunity, sadly, is a term press freedom advocates and investigative reporters wrestle with daily. Violence against reporters - or threats thereof - is pervasive. Looking into criminal activity is always a dicey job. Add official obstruction, belying corruption, it is dangerous and deadly. Bad guys often get away with it.

Several thousand people gathered across Slovakia and elsewhere to remember investigative reporter Jan Kuciak, murdered a year ago with his fiancee Martina Kusnirova in their home. They were both 27 years old. He had been investigating corruption.

One theme at the rallies was repeated over and over: something has changed. “We did not forget, we are are not going anywhere,” said Dennik N chief editor Matus Kostolny to those assembled in Bratislava. "This symbolises the twelve months that have changed Slovakia,” said Movement For A Decent Slovakia organizer Juraj Seliga, quoted by AFP (February 21). “We will not forget and are not going anywhere.”

Before his death, Mr. Kuciak had been investigating fraudulent misappropriation of EU agriculture subsidies with attention to Italian mobsters and Slovak officials. His final report was published after his death with updates from other investigators. Public demonstrations were widespread and within weeks several Slovak officials were either fired or resigned including prime minister Robert Fico who, however, remains head of the Smer-SD political party.

None of that alleviated suspicions, either among the public or investigative reporters, who had reached out to colleagues across Europe. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), at one point, believed Freedom of Information requests filed by Mr. Kuciak had been leaked to those involved in the murders. Later OCCRP downplayed the importance of the leak as it had discovered Mr. Kuciak had been “physically surveilled” before the murders.

By last September four persons had been charged either for the murders or complicity. An individual suspected of ordering the hit, Marian Kocner, is currently in jail on an unrelated charge. Trials are pending, lending considerable speculation that prosecutors have been slow-walking the process.

“Throughout the year other things have come to light,” said Slovak President Andrej Kiska, a political rival of Mr. Fico, quoted by Slovak news agency SNA. “It turned out they were planning the murder of a prosecutor, the murder of a politician and that a former member of the Secret Intelligence Service was spying on journalists, even Jan Kuciak. It turns out that a potential go-between, one of the persons involved in the murders, became a kind of confidant and even darling of some of our politicians.”

The creation of Investigative Center Jan Kuciak (ICJK) was also introduced. Founders include aktuality.sk editor Peter Bardy, foundation Stop Corruption (Zastavme Korupciu) director Zuzana Petková and noviny.sk writer Arpád Soltész.

Jozef Kuciak, father of the murdered reporter, is a member of the supervisory board. “Many times during the Panama Papers investigation Jan talked about how much damage there is in Slovakia without an equivalent to the Czech Center for Investigative Journalism,” he said in a statement (February 21). “A large number of our domestic threads overhang beyond borders, especially tax havens. We will monitor organized crime, corruption and links to politics and institutions.”

See also...

• Hot Topics - Media in Slovakia

• Hot Topics - Investigative Reporting