Bring in EU police over journalist's murder, MEPs urge Slovakia

The EU crime-fighting agency Europol should jointly lead the investigation into the murder of a Slovak journalist, senior members of the European parliament have said, amid concerns that the Slovakian government is not doing enough to solve the crime.

Robert Fico’s government is on the brink of collapse, after the murder last month of the investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancee, Martina Kušnírová, and the biggest street protests in the country’s 25-year history amid widespread public distrust. His junior coalition partner has called for early elections and a no confidence vote is to be held on Monday.

Claude Moraes, a British Labour MEP who was co-chair of a European parliament delegation to Bratislava last week, urged Slovak authorities to set up a joint investigation with Europol into the double murder.

“All the indications are that it is an organised mafia-style killing and we think not enough is being done,” he told the Guardian. The Slovak authorities “have to open up the investigation, because there isn’t enough confidence that the government of Fico is investigating this openly and objectively”.

Outside experts needed to play a leading role in the investigation, Moraes said, because of the “existential elements”, the murder of a journalist and pre-existing public concerns about corruption and conflicts of interest.

Source: theguardian