Slovakia / Europe & Central Asia

As wars subsided and a record low number of journalists were murdered in reprisal for reporting, the total number of journalists killed because of their work fell sharply in 2019. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

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.

Berlin, March 25, 2019 — Slovak lawmakers should not pass an amendment to the country’s press law that would expand its right of reply mandate to include politicians and public officials, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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.

Bratislava, February 19, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Press Institute (IPI) called on Slovak authorities to expedite charges against all parties allegedly involved in the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak. A delegation from the two groups today met with Ministry of Interior officials and representatives of the special prosecutor’s office tasked…

Berlin, September 28, 2018–Slovak police today charged three people with the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová, according to news reports. The unnamed suspects were among eight people arrested in a raid yesterday, according to reports. The other five were released today, according to a prosecutor cited in news reports.

Berlin, May 16, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Slovak authorities to respect the confidentiality of journalistic sources. Slovak police in Bratislava yesterday seized the mobile phone of Czech investigative reporter Pavla Holcova while questioning her for their investigation into the murder of her colleague, Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak, and his girlfriend, the…

“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.

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.

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.