An ad-hoc delegation of six MEPs leaves for a two-day fact-finding mission in Slovakia, following the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée. The delegation will be composed of the following MEPs from 6 different political groups: Ingeborg GRÄSSLE (EPP, DE), co-Chair, Claude MORAES (S&D, UK), co-Chair, Ryszard CZARNECKI (ECR, PL) Sophia in 't VELD (ALDE, NL) Benedek JÁVOR (Greens/EFA, HU) and Marco VALLI (EFDD, IT). The Delegation visit Veľká Mača, Slovakia, attends a commemorating event in front of the House of Jan Kuciak in the presence of Mayor of Veľká Mača, speaks to the press.

visit

MORAES, Claude (S&D, UK)

EP delegation

ceremony

VALLI, Marco (EFDD, IT)

IN 'T VELD, Sophia (Renew, NL)

freedom of press and media (T)

Slovakia

EU - Slovakia (T)

CZARNECKI, Ryszard (ECR, PL)

GRÄSSLE, Ingeborg (EPP, DE)

JÁVOR, Benedek (Greens/EFA, HU)

EP Delegation to Slovakia: visit to Veľká Mača, Slovakia, commemorating event in front of the House of Jan Kuciak in the presence of Mayor of Veľká Mača

5Illustrative shots of commemorative candles in the village of Vel'ka Maca (5 shots)

Meeting with the Mayor of Vel'ka Maca, &lrm;Istv&aacute;n LANCZ and walk in the village / Meeting with people and family of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova

SOUNDBITE (Slovak), &#8206;Istv&#225;n LANCZ, Mayor of Ve&#318;k&#225; Ma&#269;a, We hope that this terrible and criminal tragedy will be investigated as soon as possible and those who are responsible brought to justice. I believe also that the delegation of the European parliament will contribute to be sure that the investigation will be proper and independant. And that this act will never never be repeated in the future

SOUNDBITE (English), Claude MORAES (S&amp;D, UK), co-chair of the EP Delegation, We feel your loss..... and we want to say to you and to the community who has suffered hat we have spent some time here... We are committed to the issues on which the young people were fighted; we are committed to your values and we are committed very much to investigate on what happened. But most of all, we are here because we are Europeans and we share your values and we are very privileged to be here because this is a human tragedy and thank you again for this very important invitation. We will not forget what happened here today and what is our duty as members of the European Parliament in relation with this tragedy

Family photo The EP delegation together with the mayor of the village for a wreath-laying ceremony