Slovakia / Europe & Central Asia

  

Slovakia press freedom delegation demands justice for Ján Kuciak

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined a delegation in Slovakia on Tuesday marking the fifth anniversary of the murder of Slovak investigative journalist, Ján Kuciak. The organizations renewed calls for full justice for Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová who were both killed five years ago today, on 21 February 2018, and called on the…

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‘Not at the finish line’: Slovak editor Peter Bárdy on ending impunity for Ján Kuciak’s murder

Last month brought mixed news in the quest for justice for 27-year-old Slovak investigative journalist Ján Kuciak, who was murdered with his fiancée Martina Kušnírová in their home outside Bratislava on February 21, 2018. The alleged mastermind, businessman Marián Kočner, is behind bars for forgery; on January 12 an appeals court upheld a lower court ruling sentencing Kočner to…

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Slovakia's president-elect Zuzana Čaputová, pictured talking to the press outside a polling station in Pezinok on March 30. CPJ and other rights organizations are calling on the newly elected leader to ensure the safety of journalists. (AFP/Vladimir Simicek)

Calls for Slovakia’s new president to respect press freedom

CPJ and a coalition of eight other international press freedom groups today called on the newly elected president of Slovakia to respect press freedom and ensure the safety of journalists.

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Photos of Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová are set on a table at the Bratislava offices of Aktuality. One year after the double murder, Kuciak's colleagues say they are committed to continuing Kuciak's work. (CPJ)

Mission Journal: One year on, Ján Kuciak murder seen as turning point by Slovak press

Black-and-white portraits of Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová, set amid unlit red candles, were the first things to greet me when I entered the building housing Aktuality, the news website where Kuciak, an investigative reporter, worked until his murder on February 21, 2018. One flight up is the newsroom where Kuciak’s colleagues continue his work.

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A poster of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia is carried at a protest against government corruption revealed by the Daphne Project, in Valletta, Malta, on April 29. Reporting on corruption can be a dangerous assignment. (Reuters/Darrin Zammit Lupi)

Make solving journalist murders a priority, CPJ tells US Helsinki Commission

“Being a reporter in much of the world is dangerous work. Being an investigative reporter can be deadly,” CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney told the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, known as the Helsinki Commission, at a briefing in Washington, D.C. today.

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A journalist holds a phone with a sticker commemorating the assassinated Slovakian journalist Jan Kuciak, as Slovak deputy Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini talks to the media after a meeting at the presidential palace in Bratislava on March 15, 2018. (REUTERS/David W. Cerny)

After murders of Kuciak and Caruana Galizia, investigative journalists band together for justice

The assassinations of Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta in October and of Ján Kuciak in Slovakia last month have elicited an outpouring of support from journalists determined to honor the memory of their colleagues by fighting back with the weapon they wield best: journalism.

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Candles are lit during a silent protest march to pay tribute to murdered Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend, Martina Kusnirova, in Bratislava, Slovakia. CPJ and other press freedom groups are calling on the European Commission to investigate the killing. (AFP/Alex Halada)

CPJ joins call for European Commission to fight impunity in journalist killings

In a joint letter today, addressed to President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, 17 international media freedom organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, called on the Commission to ensure thorough, effective investigations into the murders of investigative journalists Ján Kuciak in Slovakia and Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta.

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EU underscores support of free expression, but slights access to information

A new document on freedom of expression and opinion, adopted May 12 by the 28 foreign ministers of the European Union, presses nearly all the right buttons. Drawing its inspiration from international human rights norms as well as from the EU’s treaties and its charter of fundamental rights, the document reaffirms the role of freedom…

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