OPINION: Eastern Europe’s Dangerous Path

By Eric Schichlein

Three journalists have been murdered in the European Union in the last year. All were known for their pursuit of tough stories, which painted the authorities in a harsh light.

Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered on October 16, 2017, by a car bomb, according to BBC. She became well-known for using the Panama Papers to uncover links between offshore money and the Maltese prime minister’s inner circle and for investigating the sale of Maltese passports by organized crime groups, reports NPR. Slovakian investigative journalist Jan Kuciak was murdered alongside his girlfriend Martina Kusnirova on February 21, 2018, in his home. At the time of his death, he was uncovering possible ties between Slovakian politicians and the Italian Mafia, according to Deutsche Welle. Finally, TV reporter Viktoria Marinova was found dead on October 6, 2018; most recently, she worked on covering the story of two Bulgarian journalists arrested for uncovering corruption in the country, reports BBC.

While it is too soon to assess the response of the Bulgarian authorities to Marinova’s death, the official responses to Caruana Galizia and Kuciak’s deaths present a telling view of the relationship between the government and journalists in southern and eastern Europe. In Caruana Galizia’s case, the Maltese government arrested three men for planting the car bomb that killed her, but the identity of whomever ordered the assassination remains unknown, reports NPR. They further write that Ana Gomes, a Portuguese member of the European Parliament, accused the Maltese government of hindering the investigation. An international consortium of news outlets also revealed that the suspects were known to the police and may have been tipped off before being arrested. In Kuciak’s case, the government’s inadequate response led to mass protests, which forced Prime Minister Robert Fico, Interior Minister Robert Kalinak, and President of the Slovak Police Force Tibor Gaspar to resign, according to Deutsche Welle. While Slovakian police recently arrested several individuals for Kuciak’s murder, the identity of the mastermind behind the assassination remains unknown.

This trend of hamstrung, half-hearted investigations into the murder of those willing to confront the corrupt powers-that-be bodes ill for any Bulgarian investigation into Marinova’s death. If a government proves unwilling to properly investigate such deaths and aid such efforts to fight corruption, the voters must punish them accordingly.