Skip to content
Subscriber Only
Politics

Slovakia's First-Ever Journalist Murder Seen Linked to Story

  • Investigative work ‘most likely’ motive of double killing
  • Jan Kuciak reported on tax fraud with links to politicians
Policemen stand guard outside the crime scene where Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend were murdered in Velka Maca, some 50km from Bratislava, Slovakia, on Feb. 26, 2018. 

Policemen stand guard outside the crime scene where Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend were murdered in Velka Maca, some 50km from Bratislava, Slovakia, on Feb. 26, 2018. 

Photographer: Vladimir Simicek/AFP via Getty Images

Updated on

A Slovak journalist who reported on economic crimes linked to politicians was murdered at his home with his girlfriend, in an attack the police said was “most likely” because of his investigative work.

Jan Kuciak, a 27 year-old reporter at the aktuality.sk news website, was found shot dead with his partner on Sunday in their home in Velka Maca, western Slovakia, Police President Tibor Gaspar told journalists in Bratislava. It was the first-ever high-profile murder of a journalist in the former-communist European Union country. Given the likely motive, police will provide protection for other journalists working for aktuality.sk, he said.