Kuciak case: court to hear telephone conversation with Kočner from 2017 in September
A recording of a call between defendant Marián Kočner and Kuciak will be heard at the next hearing on 7 September. The murder case of the journalist is being tried at the Special Criminal Court for the third time.
Telephone call from 2017 to be heard in court: Kuciak case continues
As reported by Google News SK — Crime (sk), at the September main hearing in the case of journalist Ján Kuciak's murder, a telephone conversation between defendant Marián Kočner and Kuciak from autumn 2017 will be played. The recording of a press conference at which the journalist put questions to Kočner is also scheduled to be presented.
The chairman of the senate of the Special Criminal Court (ŠTS) in Pezinok, Miroslav Mazúch, announced this on Wednesday, 26 August. At the same hearing, witness statements and documentary evidence were read. The hearing will continue on 7 September, when, in addition to playing the recordings, further evidence proposed by prosecutors is scheduled — including background checks on the murdered journalist and several expert reports.
Kuciak was shot in February 2018 in Veľká Mača in Galanta district. His fiancée Martina Kušnírová also died in the attack. Marián Kočner and Alena Zsuzsová are accused of ordering the murder. The Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic annulled the two previous judgements, so the case is being heard at the ŠTS for the third time. The perpetrators of the murder, Miroslav Marček and Tomáš Szabó, were sentenced to 25 years unconditional imprisonment, the intermediary Zoltán Andruskó to 15 years.
In a related case concerning the preparation of murders, prosecutors are also facing charges against Dušan Kracina and Darko Dragič alongside Kočner and Zsuzsová. According to the charge, the contract for the murders of Maroš Žilinka and Dušan Lipšic was allegedly placed in autumn 2017, in the case of Petr Šufliarski in 2018. These were not carried out. Tomáš Szabó, who confessed to involvement in the preparation of the murders, has been finally convicted since 2022.
Source: Google News SK — Crime (sk)