Olha Decides to Step Down as FPU Council Chair, Remains Its Member

Bratislava, 23 July (TASR) - Chair of the Arts Support Fund (FPU) Council Matus Olha has informed TASR that he's decided to step down from his post. Olha said that his decision was prompted by what he described as "a sustained media lynching", which he was no longer willing to endure. At the same time, he said that he'll continue to serve as a council member. Olha believes that what the fund and its staff has been facing could no longer be called informing the public. "It's been a months-long media lynching. Unsubstantiated allegations have been repeated over and over until they become 'facts'. The explanations that we've provided have been withheld, as they would spoil a story that was written before the first question was even asked," stated the outgoing FPU chair. Olha said that he respects the right of journalists and the public to criticise the institution. However, he views the way in which FPU and its bodies had been portrayed as "a systematic campaign of attrition against specific individuals, with a real impact on specific people, which has become unbearable". He doesn't dispute the media's right to ask questions or the duty of a public institution to respond. "FPU has been demonstrably and repeatedly meeting this obligation, even going beyond what is required by law," stressed Olha. "However, the duty to respond doesn't mean a duty to endure anything indefinitely," he said. Olha also commented on his reaction following an FPU Council meeting on Wednesday (22 July) in this context. "I didn't answer the questions, as I had nothing more to add. I've been answering the same questions publicly for several months now, and those answers are simply being disregarded. It wasn't silence. It was the exhaustion of someone who has already spoken out many times and each time realised that it made no difference," he added. It was partly in light of Wednesday's events that he decided to step down as FPU Council chair. "I'll continue my work to improve conditions in Slovak culture as a full-fledged member of the FPU Council," he said. Following the aforementioned meeting, which was supposed to address allegations of the unauthorised surveillance of FPU employees, the Council chair initially announced that FPU would file a criminal complaint against an unknown perpetrator for spreading a false alarm. He then declined to answer subsequent questions from the media, and, evidently agitated, sought to give them the slip. Listening devices have reportedly been found by the fund's employees on FPU's premises, head of the FPU Director's Office Daniela Jahnova has confirmed for TASR, adding that the law-enforcement authorities are investigating the matter. Employees reportedly found listening devices under their office desks. ko/df