PRAGUE (AP) – Slovakia has quickly turned from what seemed to be a stable European Union country into chaos, in the wake of the unprecedented slayings of an investigative journalist and his fiancee.
In a speech last month, President Andrej Kiska talked about his country as “successful, proud and self-confident.” On March 4, however, he said Slovakia faces a “serious political crisis” triggered by the shooting deaths of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova. Police said Kuciak’s killing was likely linked to his work.
The political storm has been intensifying daily since their bodies were found Feb. 25.
Amid heated exchanges between the ruling coalition and the opposition, conspiracy theories spread by Prime Minister Robert Fico and his repeated verbal attacks on Kiska, a growing number of people have started to turn against the Fico government, threatening its very existence.
For his last unfinished story, Kuciak, 27, reported on the influence of the Italian mafia in Slovakia and its possible ties to people close to Fico.