The event commemorated Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová in Bratislava (here, SNP Square), and in Košice. (source: Sme - Gabriel Kuchta)
Despite the rather disagreeable weather on Sunday, August 26, dissatisfied citizens attended a reverential event commemorating six months since the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová. It took place on Sunday evening in the Main Street in Košice.
The participants in the events, organised by the Za Slušné Slovensko (For a Decent Slovakia) civic association, lit candles and laid flowers in front of the Scientific Library building.
This is the very site where six months ago – shortly after the tragedy – Košice inhabitants met spontaneously for the first time to express dissatisfaction with what was going on their country, the Košice Korzár daily wrote.
The August 26 event saw no speeches or speakers, the meeting at the Lower Gate was meant, according to organisers, to warn those in power and in other relevant positions to stay active in the investigation into the murder of the young couple and also the cases and scandals that Kuciak wrote about.
A similar reverential event took place on the same day in Bratislava, in the SNP Square.
A new monument
A new monument was ceremonially unveiled in Košice on August 21, also striving to remind of the recent tragedy. The monument located in the park at the beginning of the Južná Trieda boulevard, close to the Osloboditeľov Square, is the work of artist Peter Kalmus.
The monument displays only their names, portraits of Ján and Martina, and the QR code which leads to the biographical data of the brutally murdered couple. The data also includes details of who was prime minister, interior minister, police president, etc. at the time of the murders, Kalmus told the Korzár Košice daily.
The ceremony included a memorial service for the murdered couple and also for the victims of the August 21, 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia by the troops of the Warsaw Pact countries.
