After Murder and Protests, Slovak Leaders Struggle to Keep Power<br />By MIROSLAVA GERMANOVA and MARC SANTORAMARCH 12, 2018<br />BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Trying to maintain its grip on power, Slovakia’s governing party announced on Monday<br />that the interior minister would step down, and pledged a thorough investigation into the killing of a young journalist who was investigating government corruption in the small Central European nation.<br />It was unclear whether the moves would be enough to salvage the government of Prime Minister Robert Fico<br />and his party, SMER-SD, coming days after tens of thousands of people took to the streets, many of them calling for Mr. Fico to resign.<br />His coalition partner, the party Most-Hid, had demanded the resignation of the interior minister, Robert Kalinak, who oversees the police<br />and was widely seen as an impediment to a thorough investigation into the killing.<br />“I made this decision because I see, hear and feel.”<br />He said that the killings of the journalist Jan Kuciak<br />and his fiancée, Martina Kusnirova, whose bodies were found on Feb. 25, were being investigated by the biggest team assembled in the country’s history to look into a homicide.<br />Leaders of two junior partners in the governing coalition, Most-Hid<br />and SNS, met Monday with President Kiska to talk about the future of the country and ways to restore public trust.<br />For the past two weeks, since investigators said it was likely<br />that Mr. Kuciak was killed because of his work, there have been calls for Mr. Kalinak to resign over a case that has gripped the nation’s attention.
