President Andrej Kiska received this year's laureates of the White Crow anti-corruption award – the first time ever the laureates have been invited to the Presidential Palace by a head of state.
Kiska met with Nitra's Faculty Hospital paediatrician Zuzana Pechočiaková, former National Forestry Centre controller Lubica Lapinova and wife Ludmila of the decorated radio publicist Oleg Pastier, who published samizdat during the pre-November 1989 era while working for the state broadcaster as he was not well enough to attend the ceremony. The meeting was attended by NGOs Fair-Play Alliance and Via Iuris that have organised the White Crow awards since 2008. The decoration is awarded for publicly beneficial and courageous civic deeds. Kiska praised the courage of White Crow laureates. “These are people who managed to overcome fear and risked the loss of their jobs. Despite all the risks, they mustered the courage to point to areas where the state is failing,” said the President.
