Europol, the European Union agency that fights cross-border crime, should join the investigation into the murder of a Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend, according to senior members of the European parliament.
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 need 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.
According to the Guardian, Europol has already sent experts to Slovakia to help with forensics, while the FBI, Czech and Italian police are also assisting their Slovak counterparts.
Meanwhile, MEPs on March 14 are slated to debate the safety of journalists in Slovakia and allegations of misuse of EU funds – a central theme of Kuciak’s last story, which alleged that Italian businessmen with ties to the mafia had settled in eastern Slovakia and were raking in EU farm subsidies.
