Position of the Association of European Journalists, Slovak Section, to the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée
The Slovak Section of the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) is strongly perturbed by the cold-blooded murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée. This heinous crime was committed while he was pursuing investigative work to expose crimes of persons linked not only to the underworld, but also to the political elite of the country. The AEJ, Slovak Section, demands that the Slovak police authorities fully and thoroughly investigate these murders and bring the perpetrators to justice before the courts.
In our perception, this murder was an attack on the basic principle of a lawful democratic state, on freedom of speech and the press, one of the constitutional rights of Slovak citizens. This is undoubtedly also a dire consequence of the systematic long-term aggressive verbal attacks on journalists by various leading state representatives. At the same time, we are asking precisely how Slovakia protects those who put themselves at risk when uncovering antisocial activities?
We are obliged to recall also another two Slovak journalists who vanished and are still missing – reporter Paľo Rýpal since 2008 and economic journalist Miroslav Pejko since 2015. They were both also active in the media in investigative journalism. We urgently request that the criminal authorities inform the public about the current status of investigations into these murders, and also progress made in the search for the missing journalists. .