Death of investigative journalist sparks mass protests in Slovakia

Tens of thousands of Slovaks have rallied to demand the resignation of prime minister Robert Fico’s government following the murder of a journalist that has shocked the central European nation and stoked anger over sleaze in public life.

Ján Kuciak and his fiancee, Martina Kušnírová, both 27, were found shot dead at their home near Bratislava on 25 February. Police have said Kuciak’s death was “most likely” related to an investigation of his that resulted in an article on alleged ties between Slovakia’s top politicians and the Italian mafia, which his employer posthumously published.

Slovak media called Friday’s protest in the capital, Bratislava, the biggest since the 1989 Velvet revolution that toppled communism in Czechoslovakia. Thousands marched in other Slovak cities, while hundreds of people gathered in cities in Europe and elsewhere.

 Organisers demanded a thorough investigation of Kuciak’s death and a “new trustworthy government”. “Politicians in power have lost our trust,” said protester Maria Kuliovska, a 30-year-old mother on maternity leave. “We don’t trust them to guarantee an independent investigation. They have failed to investigate all previous scandals.”

Kuciak’s journalism and then his murder have rekindled public frustration with the government’s failure to tackle graft and cronyism in Slovakia nearly three decades after the fall of communism and 14 years after it joined the European Union.


Source: theguardian