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Ján Kuciak murdered by whom? Why ? (V2)

credit: facebook

(B2) A young journalist (27 years old) online media News (Springer group), Ján Kuciak, died, at his home between Thursday and Sunday, in Velka Maca, a small town between Bratislava and Nitra. Murdered...

A professional affair

His body was found on Sunday alongside his girlfriend Martina Kusnirova. Each with a single wound: one in the chest for Jan, one in the head for Martina. For the Slovak police chief, Tibor Gašpar, the motive for the assassination of Ján Kuciak is " probably related to his journalistic work ". He was investigating cases of tax evasion by entrepreneurs (in particular Marián Kočner) more or less linked to the ruling Social Democratic Party (Robert Fico's SMER). It also retraced the arrival of the Calabrian mafia in Slovakia and its proximity to certain officials, particularly security officials. Even if all the circumstances of his death have yet to be clarified, the emotion is great in Slovakia. NB: The young journalist had indeed received threats by telephone, in particular from Mr. Kočner. He had filed a complaint, a complaint that remained for a long time without any real action from the police as he indicates on his page Facebook.

A discreet death

The discovery of the death was only late, Sunday. The girl's mother had telephoned the police, not having heard from her. A round of the police carried out Sunday around 22:30 p.m., in the district of Sládkovičovo made it possible to discover the drama. The last contact having taken place on Thursday, the death would be between these two dates, according to the account that in fact actuality. The exact time and circumstances will be determined after the autopsy. According to the traces, according to the daily life Pravda, the young woman tried to escape and hide but she was caught.

Investigation Task Force

A special investigation team will be created, announced Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, comprising representatives of the General Prosecutor's Office, the Special Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of the Interior, the National Criminal Police Agency, the Presidium of the Slovak Police Force and Information Service. In the process, he announced a reward of one million euros for information leading to the arrest of the assassins.

The second murder in Europe in a few months

This murder awakens a strange feeling of already lived. The murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia last October in Malta (read: The assassination of Daphne: an act of intimidation above all) came as a shock last October. This murder, if the journalistic motive were proven, would also be one. Daphne's family also clarified: My family has warned the European Commission that Malta, by murdering my mother, has set a new standard for admissibility into European Union territory and [others] will soon die until decisive action is taken. Jan could have been saved “wrote the son of Daphne Andrew Caruan Galizia.

Create the necessary conditions for the safety of journalists

This assassination arouses turmoil in Slovakia as in the neighboring Czech Republic. This morning, the editors of 12 of the main Slovak media urged the state to " take all necessary measures not only to trace the criminals, but also to create the necessary conditions for the safety of the work of journalists ". Czech journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), as well as the Association of European Journalists (AJE) — of which I am a member — have also expressed their deep concern.

Comment: it is time for Europe to become aware of the particular risks taken by journalists who carry out certain investigations and to protect them in a major way (beyond words of condolence which only last for the time of emotion). It would be good to take this work seriously and, when revelations are made, to take action without delay to punish the culprits. It is time for the real troublemakers, those who corrupt, to come close to the laws in a major way, believing themselves to be unpunished because they are protected by power, to know that they can be prosecuted. It would also be good for some politicians (or their companions) to take stock of this state of affairs and stop vilifying journalists at the slightest embarrassing article by calling them liars or inconveniences, where they are only doing their job...

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
vice-president of AJE France

updated on 27.2 with the suspicion on the Italian mafia

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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