Slovakia offers 1m euros for information on journalist murder

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico offered a $1m reward for anyone with information on the murder of an investigative journalist in the country.

Twenty-seven-year-old journalist Jan Kuciak and his partner, Kusniova, were executed in their home Sunday with one bullet in the head.

The media report that Kuciac would publish an investigation linking the Italian mafia to corruption at high political levels.

During the press conference, accompanied by the interior minister and chief of police, Prime Minister Fico, standing next to the stack of bills, said the government would do everything it can to bring the culprits to justice.

Local media report that there were prime minister's cabinet officials in the target of Macedonian journalist, but that he said nobody should be blamed without evidence, especially after the opposition directly blamed the ruling SMER party for the killings. 

Meanwhile, Slovak police chief Tibor Gaspar said it is most likely that the murder will be linked to investigations the journalist was conducting.

According to the media, Kuciac was investigating the deviation of EU funds in false payments for a tax scheme between Slovakia and Italian citizens who have ties to Ndangheta.

His murder prompted a harsh public response and the launch of organisations for anticorruption protest.

Analysts say the murder of Kuciac is an alarm bell for the EU itself, as only a few months ago, in another single-level country right on Malta, journalist Daphne Carwana Gallizia was killed, who also investigated corruption at high political and government levels.