7 PLUS COMPANY, the publisher of the Plus Jeden Deň daily and the Plus 7 Dní weekly filed a lawsuit against Prime Minister Robert Fico on January 12. The publisher is demanding an apology from Fico for accusing it and other periodical publishers of mafia practices.
In December 2009 Fico accused the publishers of Slovakia’s major daily newspapers of plotting a unified campaign against his Smer party and then took his comments one step further by comparing Slovakia’s print media to the mafia.
The publishers strongly objected to Fico’s charges and the major dailies printed a statement on December 12 in which the publishers wrote that “Prime Minister Fico lies”.