Police carried out an operation in Kolárovo (Nitra Region). (source: TASR)
International press organisations have already responded to the September 27 reports concerning the detention of eight people suspected of murdering investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová.
Reporters without Borders (RSF) welcomed the breakthrough in the investigation, seven months after the murders, but hopes that these arrests are a first step.
“The most important thing is the arrest of the masterminds,” Pauline Adès-Mevel, RSF’s head of the EU-Balkans desk, told The Slovak Spectator, adding that as in the case of Daphne Caruana Galizia almost a year ago, there is a need for full justice. “Press freedom, as a core human right, is grounded in the safety of journalists, and justice for crimes against them.”
Journalists working to expose corruption and money laundering are vital to the anti-corruption movement and any attacks on them undermine democracy and the rule of law, Adès-Mevel added.
“So today RSF renews its call for full justice for the murder of Ján Kuciak,” she said.
IPI welcomes the progress
Impunity from prosecution for the murder of a journalist is unacceptable, so any progress towards solving the murders of Kuciak and Kušnírová is welcome news, Scott Griffen of the International Press Institute (IPI) commented for the Sme daily.
“But it is important to remember that justice for Ján and Martina is not only about detaining the person or people who pulled the trigger,” Griffen added, as quoted by Sme. “It is also about finding those behind the murder.”
The authorities of the world focus more on the executors of a murder, while the ordering parties often remain out of prison.
“We hope Slovakia will not follow this example,” Griffen added.
