Six years have passed since the murders of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, who were killed on February 21 at their home in Veľká Mača, western Slovakia.
However, journalists in Slovakia continue to face attacks from politicians.
"Even after all this time, threats to journalists haven't stopped, we see various attacks on civil society, we hear words about ruling with a firm hand," said President Zuzana Čaputová on Wednesday.
For instance, TV personality and influencer Veronika Cifrová Ostrihoňová was called 'a Progresívne Slovensko agent' by Smer MP Ľuboš Blaha after the opposition party Progresívne Slovensko revealed on Tuesday she would appear on its slate for this year's European Parliament elections in June.
This came just days after the main governing coalition party Smer filed a criminal complaint against the Denník N daily's commentator, Martin M. Šimečka, for comments he made calling Slovaks a nation of cowards. The party also refuses to communicate with media which are critical of it.
The head of state honoured the memory of the murdered couple on the SNP Square in downtown Bratislava on Wednesday, while in the evening, a public gathering took place at Freedom Square (Námestie Slobody). Unlike the opposition-led protests witnessed in recent months, this gathering was organised by the initiative For a Decent Slovakia. Kuciak's and Kušnírová's parents opened the event.
"First of all, I want to thank you for helping us fight for justice for our children," said Jozef Kuciak, the late journalist's father.
About 7,000 people gathered in Bratislava, chanting "Fico to jail" and "Shame". Journalists, media and anti-corruption watchdogs, and artists all appeared on stage to support the work of journalists, demand justice for the murdered couple and their families, and express their wish for a better Slovakia.
Diplomats came to the Kuciak monument in the capital on Wednesday, too.
Events similar to the one in Bratislava took place in almost 40 towns and cities in the country and abroad. For example, more than 70 people gathered in Brussels. Secretary General of the European Federation of Journalists Ricardo Gutierrez also supported the event in Belgium's capital. The Federation is closely following the actions of the Slovak government, which, in Gutierrez's view, is committing acts of intimidation against journalists and spreading hate speech against media representatives, the TASR news agency wrote.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola marked the sixth anniversary on the social media platform X.
"We'll never forget," 200 people shouted in the popular Slovak spa town of Piešťany. In Rožňava, activist Katarína Cibíková asked people to not give up. "Evil wins when good people do nothing," she said.
On Wednesday, people also said a prayer in several towns. A letter written by the Kuciaks and the Kušnírs was read out loud everywhere.
Matovič: People have forgotten about Kuciak
In addition to the Slovak president and diplomats, opposition parties also marked the anniversary by visiting the Bratislava monument to the murdered couple, and on social media and in parliament.
"The government coalition trampled on their memory with a mafia amendment to the Penal Code, where many of the criminal activities that Ján Kuciak wrote about will be statute-barred," noted Za Ľudí chair and MP Veronika Remišová, as quoted by TASR.
The changes will abolish the Special Prosecutor's Office, reduce penalties for a number of crimes, including corruption. Many rape cases may go unpunished once the law becomes effective.
The opposition and the president have turned to the Constitutional Court to suspend the adopted extensive amendment and rule whether it is in line with the constitution. However, the new Penal Code is yet to be published on the country's statute book, nor will it be in the coming days, Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer) has said. The ministry is responsible for publishing laws in the statute book. However, the minister has said that the Penal Code is yet to be delivered to the ministry.
Some argue that the court may reject the submissions if the law is not published in the statute book. Therefore, it is currently unclear if the court will deal with the them.
To prevent the law from coming into force, the court has to agree with the arguments presented by the president and the opposition parties. Also, its decision has to be published in the statute book before March 15 when the law should come into force.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, ex-premier and Slovensko party leader Igor Matovič criticised people, including journalists, for forgetting about "Kuciak's sacrifice", pointing to Smer's win in elections last year.
"A journalist should always seek the truth, should not pretend to be its owner and should not manipulate people," the former prime minister said. Matovič called on PM Robert Fico (Smer) to "finally" say who masterminded the killings of the pair.
"At a protest in Nitra in 2022, in front of a few thousand people, he said that the whole of Slovakia will be very surprised when they [Smer] unveil who is the real mastermind behind the murder."
Three men - Miroslav Marček, Zoltán Andruskó, Tomáš Szabó - are serving jail sentences over the murders. But businessman Marian Kočner has been acquitted twice in the case, although a close contact, Alena Zsuzsová, has been convicted for the killings. The Supreme Court is expected to hear an appeal over the acquittal later this year.
Around 100 people gathered outside the Slovak embassy in Prague to mark the Kuciak anniversary on February 21, 2024. (source: TASR)
Smer feels it is being targeted
While Slovakia honoured Kuciak and Kušnírová, the government did not see the anniversary as a priority. There was no minute of silence in today's government meeting, and some ministers complained that the Kuciak case has been largely politicised.
When Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenický (Smer) was asked why Smer continues to attack journalists, he took offence. "I think that the targets here are mainly politicians and Smer. Actually, Smer representatives have always been the biggest target of the media here," he said.
Smer was in power when Kuciak and Kušnírová were killed in 2018. Many blame the party for the tragedy, at least politically. After their murders, Fico was ousted from the PM's chair. At the same time, he began to suspect billionaire George Soros of financing anti-government protests in Slovakia. Peter Pellegrini, a popular Smer official at that time, replaced Fico. Today, Pellegrini leads his own party, Hlas, sits in the coalition with Fico (and SNS leader Andrej Danko), holds the office of the speaker of parliament, and is hoping to win the presidential election in the spring.
Although Fico and Pellegrini are Slovakia's top officials (together with the president), they didn't publish any statement regarding the anniversary during the day. Instead, Pellegrini shared a video to tell people how the state will help people with their energy bills in the future. At night, Fico shared a post on Facebook in which he accused the media, the opposition and NGOs of turning Kuciak and Kušnírová into "May 1 posters that they pull out when it suits them". He claimed that the Wednesday gatherings had taken place to boost the support for ex-foreign minister Ivan Korčok, Pellegrini's only relevant opponent in the presidential race. Fico also blamed the opposition for the murder of Kuciak.
"[PS leader Michal] Šimečka, [KDH leader Milan] Majerský, [SaS leader Richard] Sulík, Matovič and your superiors, think about who was interested in murdering the journalist and his girlfriend in 2018 so that my third government would fall. It was not me," Fico posted on Wednesday night.
