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Commemoration of the two murdered (archive recording)
Photo: JAKUB GAVLAK/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The trial of those who allegedly commissioned the murder of Slovakian investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova is being reopened four years after the crime.
The new trial against millionaire Marián Kočner and an accomplice begins Monday at the Special Organized Crime Court in Pezinok, east of Bratislava.
This was confirmed by a court spokeswoman Katarina Kudjakova of the German Press Agency on request.
According to court spokeswoman Kudjakova, the new trial is not only about the murder of the journalist, but also about the allegation of having planned several more murders.
The then 27-year-old investigative journalist and his fiancée were shot dead on February 21, 2018 in their house in the village of Velka Maca.
The murder caused an international sensation.
Kuciak had written about the felt between politics and business (read more here).
His last report, published only after the double murder, triggered mass demonstrations that led to the resignation of the government.
The investigations into the businessman Kočner, accused of having commissioned the murder, revealed a corruption network that had existed for decades.
Since then, scores of judges, prosecutors and senior police officials have been arrested.
Acquitted for lack of evidence
The fact that Kočner and his alleged accomplice Alena Zs. were acquitted in September 2020 due to a lack of evidence caused international outrage.
In June 2021, the Supreme Court of Slovakia upheld a prosecution appeal and overturned these acquittals.
The confessed double murderer and two accomplices who are said to have acted on Kočner's behalf have already been convicted.
Kočner and Zs. have since been convicted of other crimes.
They must therefore remain in prison for years even if the court should acquit them again of the journalist murder charge.
as/dpa
