Miroslav Marček appears in court over shooting of Ján Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova
A former soldier has admitted killing a Slovak journalist and his fiancee, a crime that sparked mass protests leading to the resignation of the prime minister Robert Fico.
Miroslav Marček told the special criminal court in Pezinok that he accepted guilt, an admission that could reduce his sentence from potential life imprisonment.
Continue reading...Mayors of Prague, Warsaw, Bratislava and Budapest agree to protect common values
The mayors of four central European capitals signed a so-called “Pact of Free Cities” in Budapest on Monday, vowing to stand together against populist national governments in the region.
Budapest’s mayor Gergely Karácsony was joined by his counterparts from Warsaw, Prague and Bratislava to sign the document, which promised to promote the “common values of freedom, human dignity, democracy, equality, rule of law, social justice, tolerance and cultural diversity”.
Continue reading...Zuzana Čaputová’s arrival in Prague comes as activists plan fresh protests against rightwing Czech government
Slovakia’s newly installed liberal president, Zuzana Čaputová, has arrived in the Czech Republic on an official visit that will culminate in a symbolic visit to the grave of Václav Havel, the former dissident who was the first post-communist leader of the former Czechoslovakia.
Čaputová lay flowers at the Havel family plot in Prague’s Vinohrady cemetery in a mark of respect to a man she has identified as a role model and a statement of her own self-avowed values of tolerance and decency. Havel led the protests that resulted in the fall of the communist regime in the 1989 Velvet Revolution.
Continue reading...Zuzana Čaputová campaigned on platform of ‘humanism, solidarity and truth’
The woman who has been elected Slovakia’s first female president said her victory showed “you can win without attacking your opponents”, after fighting a positive campaign based on progressive values and political reform, and providing a rare moment of hope for liberal politics in central Europe.
Zuzana Čaputová, a 45-year-old lawyer and anti-corruption campaigner, won 58.4% of the votes in Saturday’s poll and will take office in June.
Continue reading...Environmental and anti-corruption activist Zuzana Čaputová wins runoff election
Vocal government critic and anti-corruption activist Zuzana Čaputová was set to become Slovakia’s first female president after near complete results showed her winning Saturday’s runoff election.
The environmental lawyer got 58.01% of the ballot after results from more than 90% of polling stations were counted, while the EU energy commissioner Maroš Šefčovič garnered 41.98, the Slovak statistics office said.
Continue reading...Anti-corruption campaigner secures 40% and will face run-off with ruling Smer party candidate
An anti-corruption campaigner with no experience of public office has won the first round of Slovakia’s presidential election, as voters spurned the ruling Smer party a year after the murder of an investigative journalist.
Environmental lawyer Zuzana Čaputová won 40.5% of the vote, with 99.4 of the ballots counted on Sunday, far ahead of the Smer candidate, Maroš Šefčovič, who had 18.7%.
Continue reading...Voters rally to presidential frontrunner whose pro-LGBT stance has fuelled rightwing conspiracy machine
Disbelief and a hint of fear flashed across Zuzana Čaputová’s face as the news broke.
After explaining to the Guardian how she would bolster the rule of law in Slovakia if elected president, Čaputová, a 45-year-old lawyer and the frontrunner in Saturday’s presidential poll, suddenly stopped short as an aide read out a headline from his phone: Marian Kočner, a multi-millionaire businessman, had been charged with ordering the murder of Ján Kuciak, a journalist who was investigating organised crime.
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