'Immortal Truth' Memorial to Murdered Journalists Unveiled in EP
Brussels, February 18 (TASR-correspondent) – A memorial called ‘Immortal Truth’, honouring murdered Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova, and Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, was revealed in the European Parliament on Tuesday.
The sculpture, made by Slovak architecture student Martin Mjartan, will be featured on the main stage on the third storey of the EP’s building in Brussels for a week, before being transferred to premises used by journalists.
Relatives of the murdered Slovaks and Maltese were received by EP President David-Maria Sassoli, himself a former journalist.
European Commission Vice-president Vera Jourova and EP Vice-president Mairead McGuinness in their speeches at the unveiling ceremony promised that both bodies will do their utmost to see those responsible for the murders being brought to justice.
The memorial is made from anti-corrosive metal and black iron, with a bullet-proof inscription ‘Immortal’, bearing marks of bullets, covering an inscription ‘Truth’. Mjartan said that this was designed to state that truth is always somehow hidden and needs to be uncovered.
Jozef Kuciak, father of Jan Kuciak, murdered two years ago, at the event expressed hope that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), to be made operational later this year, will help to bring to justice those responsible for his son’s murder.
“After seeing the condition of our judiciary and prosecutors’ offices, we now at least know that the investigation won’t fail. The establishment of the EPPO also provides us with some hope,” said Jozef Kuciak.
Zlatica Kusnirova, whose daughter Martina was also gunned down along with her betrothed Jan Kuciak, at the event said that journalists as watchdogs of democracy often risk their lives, but nobody protects them. She noted that Kuciak asked for protection, but the Slovak police remained inactive.
Jozef Kuciak and Zlatica Kusnirova pointed out that the trial of those indicted with involvement in the double murder could end up at the Supreme Court as an appellate court to the Specialised Criminal Court, while the barrister of the alleged chief plotter of the murder Marian K. has a good record with appeals at the Supreme Court.
