Bratislava, March 3 (CTK) – Reporters without Borders (RSF) Secretary General Christophe Deloire insists on having called on Slovak PM Robert Fico to apologise for offending journalists, but Fico dismissed the information on Friday and the Government Office released a statement in his support today.
At a meeting with Fico in Bratislava on Friday, Deloire called on him to express regret and apologise for having repeatedly offended journalists in the past. He recommended that Fico defend the work of investigative journalists, Slovak daily Dennik N wrote.
Apart from Deloire, the meeting, held in the wake of last week’s murder of Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend, was also attended by representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom.
In a press release later on Friday, Fico wrote he was sorry about the meeting’s contents being misinterpreted and that no call on him to apologise to journalists was made at it.
Today, the Slovak Government Office released a statement including “an official interpreter’s transcription of concrete statements…by Deloire,” which does not contain any call for Fico’s apology.
Reacting to this on Twitter, Deloire said it seems that Fico denies his having called on him to express regret and apologise.
Deloire wrote that other sources would confirm that he did so twice and unambiguously, and that he would be glad if Fico refrained from trying to oppose the truth.