Ján Kuciak a Martina Kušnírová
Laureate of the 2018 edition
Ján Kuciak was born on 17 May 1990 in Štiavnik in the Bytča District. After earning his master's degree at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, he went on to doctoral studies and subsequently taught mass media communication at the university department. In his professional career he worked for Hospodárske noviny and then for the news portal Aktuality.sk. He devoted himself to investigative journalism, focusing in his articles mainly on abuses of power by top politicians. He wrote about suspicious property transfers, tax fraud and fraud involving EU funds, and uncovered the ownership structures of companies and shell firms linked to public funds, as well as the ties between dubious groups and political elites.
Laureate profile
Ján Kuciak was born on 17 May 1990 in Štiavnik in the Bytča District. After earning his master's degree at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, he went on to doctoral studies and subsequently taught mass media communication at the university department. In his professional career he worked for Hospodárske noviny and then for the news portal Aktuality.sk. He devoted himself to investigative journalism, focusing in his articles mainly on abuses of power by top politicians. He wrote about suspicious property transfers, tax fraud and fraud involving EU funds, and uncovered the ownership structures of companies and shell firms linked to public funds, as well as the ties between dubious groups and political elites.
The article he did not live to finish dealt with the mafia and its links to the government of the Slovak Republic. In the last article published before his death, he examined the dubious business dealings of Marián Kočner. His last article in preparation focused on Italian businessmen operating in eastern Slovakia and investigated their links to the ’Ndrangheta crime syndicate from Calabria, Italy.
Martina Kušnírová was born on 3 April 1990 in Gregorovce in the Prešov District. After completing her master's studies at the Department of Archaeology of Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, she worked for a private archaeological company. She was murdered together with her partner.
Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová were murdered on 21 February 2018 in their family home in Veľká Mača; the police identified the journalist's work as the main motive for the crime. Their murder was an attack on media freedom and an attempt to intimidate and deter journalists and civil society from striving to build a free, democratic state governed by the rule of law. The sacrifice of Ján and Martina sparked mass public protests against the abuse of the police, against threats to media freedom, and for the prospect of a decent and just Slovakia.
The President of the Trnava Self-Governing Region confers the Anton Srholec Freedom Award in memoriam on Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová for their determined efforts towards a better and fairer Slovakia, for which they made the ultimate sacrifice.