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Demonstration in Bratislava after the murder of Martina Kusnírová and Ján Kuciak (2018)
Photo: Darko Vojinovic / AP
In the courtroom at Pezinok near Bratislava, everyone has to stand up when the judges deliver a verdict.
But on Thursday, when the chamber pronounced its verdict in what was probably the most spectacular criminal case in the country since 1989, one of them did not hold out: the father of the murdered investigative journalist Ján Kuciak collapsed when the verdict was pronounced and asked for a glass of water.
"Not guilty," was the Chamber's decision.
Márian Kocner, a seedy businessman who has been responsible for the attack for two years, and his accomplice Alena Zsuzsova could not prove the act.
Only one former police officer from the area was sentenced to 25 years in prison for complicity and another murder.
The verdict came as a surprise - and it is a milestone in the history of Slovakia.
The country was considered exemplary in comparison to other Eastern European EU states: rapid democratic change, peaceful separation from the Czech Republic, investments primarily from the car industry, Flattax, Euro as early as 2009. But abysses opened up behind the facade.
The murder of Ján Kuciak and his fiancée in February 2018 highlighted the rotten political situation in the country.
The fact that the main suspect has now been acquitted is a severe blow to anyone who hoped for reform.
September 11, 2001 Slovakia
The shots at Kuciak and Martina Kusnírová shook the small Carpathian region, just as half the world was once shocked by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001: Many Slovaks still know where they were and what they were doing when the news of Murder came.
And: The attack revealed how endangered democracy and the rule of law are even 30 years after the end of communism.
The killer who fired the fatal bullets in the couple's home that February evening was quickly caught and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
But in the course of the investigation, Marian Kocner was quickly targeted.
The man got rich mainly from shady real estate deals.
He knew Kuciak because the reporter kept writing fearlessly about the connections Kocner probably had with the Italian mafia.
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Main suspect Márian Kocner: 19 years imprisonment for financial crimes alone
Photo: RADOVAN STOKLASA / REUTERS
The case was particularly explosive because in the course of the investigation it was revealed that Kocner was closely associated with politics and the judiciary.
He apparently had access to the environment of the then head of government Robert Fico, he controlled judges and police officers, about whose private life he collected incriminating material.
He called a state secretary in the Ministry of Justice "my monkey" in chats.
13 judges were arrested in March for corruption.
Hundreds of thousands of Slovaks took to the streets in Bratislava and other cities to protest against the corrupt network of politics, business and the demi-world.
Fico finally had to resign.
The 2019 presidential election was surprisingly won by civil rights attorney Zuzana Caputová, and a party alliance that emerged from the protests won the European elections.
And that spring, Igor Matovic became premier, a politician who promises to comb the felt out.
For lack of evidence
A verdict against Kocner would have been an important stage victory in the fight against nepotism, which developed after the end of communism and is still felt in many areas of life today.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen.
She was "shocked," said President Caputová, but the decision must be taken note of.
The Minister of the Interior is also "shocked", but, he said, the executive branch must recognize the decisions of the judiciary.
"It is obvious that there is still no justice in Slovakia."
Zlatica Kusnírová, mother of the murdered Kuciak fiancée Martina Kusnírová
According to the reasons for the judgment, Kocner has not been acquitted because the court really believes he did not commit the crime.
He was acquitted because it simply could not be proven beyond doubt.
A constitutional state - which Slovakia wants to be especially after the Kuciak murder - has to decide for the accused in case of doubt.
Even if public opinion may find the verdict entirely unjust.
The prosecutor, who had demanded 25 years in prison, immediately announced an appeal: "We lost a battle, but not the war."
The Slovak media report on confusion, excessive demands, arguments and misunderstandings in the three-person judges' panel of Pezinok - so that the chance of an appropriate judgment in the Supreme Court may be good.
The relatives of the murdered were shocked: "It is obvious that there is still no justice in Slovakia," said Zlatica Kusnirova, mother of the murdered Kuciak fiancés: "Our children are resting in their graves - and Kocner has a good laugh."
It should hardly comfort her that the defendants will not be released for the time being: Kocner's assistant is being investigated in connection with a number of other murders.
The boss himself has already been sentenced to 19 years in prison for financial crimes alone.
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