The trial of the alleged instigator behind the 2018 killing of Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee, Martina Kusnirova, is set to begin in Slovakia on Monday. It's also the third time that Slovak businessman Marian Kocner, the alleged planner of the attack, will be tried in court in this case.

Kuciak had written investigative articles on alleged criminal activities involving Kocner, who had ties to senior politicians, and it is alleged that Kocner gave the order for Kuciak's murder through an associate.

It was the first such assassination in the country's history and led to major anti-corruption protests that forced the country's prime minister at the time, Robert Fico, who returned to power in 2023, and the chief of police to step down.

Three other people involved have already been convicted. But Kocner himself has been tried twice already, and acquitted twice on appeal. The Slovak Supreme Court overturned both acquittals on appeal, which is why Kocner is standing trial again.

Pavol Szalai, the head of the Prague office of Reporters Without Borders, said the families of the murdered couple, both 27 at the time of their death, have been waiting for justice for almost eight years and called on the court not to repeat mistakes of the past.

"We call on the court to duly examine all the evidence in the case file, in accordance with the appeals court's decision, and to rule independently and in accordance with the law. Europe's eyes are on Slovakia," Szalai said in a statement. 

Europe 'not sufficiently safe for reporters'

But the Slovakia case isn't the only such instance in Europe where journalists have been murdered over their work. Since 2017, the killings of investigative reporters in EU member states have included Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta, Giorgos Karaivaz in Greece and Peter R. de Vries in the Netherlands. 

Three of the four high-profile assassinations have not been fully resolved, even though, according to Reporters Without Borders, (RSF), Europe remains the safest region in the world for journalists.

"The fact that Europe is the safest place for journalists in the world doesn't imply that there are no crimes committed against them there," Szalai told DW. "There are also other threats against freedom in Europe. So Europe is the best ranked in our world press freedom index, but it's not sufficiently safe for reporters." 

Organized crime a serious threat to journalists

Szalai said accountability remains the strongest deterrent.

"The most important for [the] protection of journalists ... is justice for crimes committed. So that potential perpetrators of crimes against journalists can see that any crime against journalists will be sanctioned," he said.

When it comes to RSF rankings for press freedom, the countries where justice is served when crimes are committed against members of the press are those that the organization will rank higher than states where it is not, Szalai explained. 

According to RSF, in Europe, organized crime remains one of the most serious threats to journalists investigating corruption and criminal networks. 

"We can clearly see it when we look at the four main cases of killings of journalists," Szalai said.

National authorities also bear responsibility for protecting journalists, and institutional failures have preceded attacks.

"The responsibility for the lack of protection of these journalists lies clearly with the national authorities, with the police, with the prosecutors, and to an extent, with the courts," Szalai said.

He pointed out that in Slovakia, Kuciak had filed complaints about threats before he was murdered. Similar failures were identified in the Netherlands following the killing of de Vries, who had been under police protection.

Violence, intimidation fuel self-censorship

Europe might produce extensive data and monitoring on media freedom, but experts say awareness alone has not always translated into protection.

Sofia Verza, a research associate with the Center for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom in Italy, said the problem is not a lack of information but a lack of political commitment. She said many protections for journalists still rely on non-binding measures.

"They are soft law, so-called," she explained. "So they are recommendations, they are self-regulations. They are not hard law."

The European Federation of Journalists recorded 10 journalist deaths in 2025, although none of them were within the EU and there have been no such murders in the EU since 2021.

Still, Szalai said the previous killings had a wide impact. "I think these assassinations ... are terrible for press freedom. It was a shock wave across Europe," he said.

Both Szalai and Verza stressed that physical violence represents only the most visible threat to press freedom, with Verza highlighting a broader climate of intimidation that fuels self-censorship.

"There are very subtle and other kinds of intimidating ongoing threats which range from smear campaigns, but also online harassment is on the rise," she said. "You might avoid contacting sources that could be controversial or that could put you in a difficult position."

Europe is still one of the safest parts of the world in which to practice journalism, according to RSF's report on global press freedom in 2025.

But Europe is also increasingly divided, the report said.

"The Eastern Europe-Central Asia region has experienced the steepest overall decline [in press freedom] worldwide, while the European Union-Balkans zone has the highest overall score globally, and its gap with the rest of the world continues to grow," the RSF said in its report.