The Czech Syndicate of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders have condemned the interrogation of Czech reporter Kristina Cirokova by Slovak authorities, which is seen as part of a wider campaign of harassment against investigative journalists covering the country.

“Steps which the Slovak prosecution has so far undertaken can be interpreted as pressure not just on the journalist alone but also on her editorial room, and as not respecting internationally respected standards of journalist freedoms,” a press statement issued by the Czech Syndicate of Journalists reads. It adds that “casting doubt on rights of journalists and media in Slovakia has a direct impact on the whole European media scene".

The case of Cirokova, who writes for the Czech online news outlet Seznam Zpravy, also prompted Reporters Without Borders (RSF) to state it is “concerned about a Slovak prosecutor’s interrogation of Czech journalist Kristina Cirokova,” adding that “reporters who cover public interest issues must be protected not intimidated".

The case is only the latest instance when individual journalists were targeted by authorities since the left-right coalition of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico took power last autumn.

Fico has frequently singled out liberal dailies SME, DennikN and Aktuality.sk, calling these "enemy media," and earlier this month, reports emerged that Fico himself filed a SLAPP lawsuit against Aktuality.sk editor-in-chief Peter Bardy.

Investigative journalist Eva Mihockova told bne Intellienws in the summer that she was called in for questioning by police in connection with her reporting on the Slovak heritage institution Matica Slovenska and its cooperation with its Russian counterpart headed by spy chief Sergey Naryshkin.

Just this week, Fico attacked a reporter during a press conference, calling journalists from the country’s leading outlets “bloodthirsty bastards” and “possessed by the devil”. Fico's government has pushed ahead with legislation giving it greater control over public media and is suspected of pursuing informal deals with private media to scale down critical reporting.

Fico also threatened to create a media watchdog that would oversee the industry and could even decide who has the right to call themselves a journalist. "If this happens then it's the end of the free press," Lukas Diko, head of the Investigate Centre of Jan Kuciak (ICJK), told a panel discussion during the Press Play Prague journalism film festival on October 10.

He said that journalists were now a main target of harassment campaigns carried out through emails and social networks, "but it is always started by politicians". He added:  "There is a war being fought but by only one side: politicians against journalists".

In the Cirokova case, Slovakia’s Zilina region prosecution opened an investigation into the journalist on the grounds of “founding, support and propagation of a movement directed at suppressing basic rights and freedom” following her reporting in which she documented that Igor Mikhailovich Danilov, a leader of the pro-Russian disinformation sect AllatRa, who is wanted in Ukraine, is hiding in Slovakia.

Czech Radio reported that Cinkorova was interrogated by the Zilina prosecution directly in Czechia’s capital, Prague. “The suspicion is very general,” Cinkorova’s lawyer Sebastian Mach was quoted as saying, adding that Cinkorova was supposed to “propagate an ideology of anti-cult movements and organizations”.  

In the latest development, ICJK also issued a complaint over their reporter Karolina Kiripolska, who had covered AllatRa at ICJK, being questioned by the Zilina state prosecution as well. 

"ICJK regards the questioning of its reporter in a position of a witness as an effort to scare the investigative reporter and an effort of state power to discourage journalists from working on themes  pertaining to questions of public interest," ICJK said in a statement on October 11 signed by Diko. Diko also stated that Kiripolska was contacted for questioning "even before her article was published at www.icjk.sk." 

In a twist to the tale,  Slovak daily SME reported that the state prosecutor Lucia Pavlaninova, who opened the case against Cirokova, had herself links to the AllatRa sect. After this was revealed, Pavlaninova resigned as a prosecutor.

SME and  ICJK reported that Slovakia’s Ministry of Interior issued a warning against AllatRa last year, while Ukrainian security authorities say AllatRa’s project Tvoriva spolocnost [Creative Society] acts in concert with Russian special services.

There is “always a risk for Slovak society in organizations whose activities are accompanied by the use of manipulative techniques, the spread of conspiracy theories, disinformation”,  a spokesperson of the Ministry of Interior Matej Neumann was quoted as saying by SME.  

AllatRa is active on social media, including the Czech and Slovak Facebook AllatRa TV Facebook page with some 3,000 followers, while the AllatRa Czech Facebook community has 7,100 followers. SME also quoted Firehose of Falsehood analysis, according to which AllatRa can reach several million on social media.  

AllatRa was set up 10 years ago in Ukraine by Danilov, who is wanted by Ukrainian authorities and is supposed to be hiding in Slovakia, SME and ICJK noted. Although AllatRa promotes books whose characters are reminiscent of Vladimir Putin, it is banned in Russia as well, as is its project, Creative Society. ICJK identified 17 companies in Slovakia which directly supported Creative Society.