SLOVAKIA: Prime Minister replaced amid reporter scandal

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has resigned after the murder of a journalist sparked a political scandal.  President Andrej Kiska said he would ask Deputy Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini to form a new government. Mr Fico had offered to resign on Wednesday if the ruling coalition was allowed to finish its term. The death of […]

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has resigned after the murder of a journalist sparked a political scandal. 

President Andrej Kiska said he would ask Deputy Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini to form a new government.

Mr Fico had offered to resign on Wednesday if the ruling coalition was allowed to finish its term.

The death of reporter Jan Kuciak has shone a spotlight on corruption in Slovakia, prompting nationwide protests.

The 27-year-old was working on a story linking high-level political corruption in Slovakia with the Italian mafia when he was killed in late February. 

His fiancée, Martina Kusnirova, was also murdered in an attack at their home.

On 9 March tens of thousands of Slovaks joined a protest rally in the capital Bratislava, in what is thought to be the largest demonstration in the country since the fall of Communism in 1989.