Kuciak murder case before court for the third time: police officers called at Kočner's request
The court in the case of the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušníová continues with testimonies from police officers. The questioning was requested by the main defendant Marian Kočner.
Third court trial in the Kuciak case: police officers take the stand over investigation
After a month-long break, the court reopened on Monday 9 November in the case of the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušníová. According to ta3.com, police officers who investigated the case are scheduled to give evidence — their questioning was requested by the main defendant Marian Kočner himself.
The police officers are to clarify certain circumstances of the investigation before the court. Kočner and his co-defendant Dušan Kracina attended the hearing in person. The parents of the murdered couple were also present.
Kočner's defence lawyer Marek Para asked investigator Juhás whether key witness Zoltán Andruskó told him in October 2018 about the preparation of the prosecutors' murders in a form that would have required filing a criminal report. Juhás answered that he remembered the procedural act when Andruskó testified about these facts and that they were recorded. "I do not recall whether it was a record of a criminal report or a questioning," he added.
The murder took place in February 2018 in Veľká Mača in the Galanta district. Marian Kočner and Alena Zsuzsová are charged with ordering the murder. Zsuzsová — as in the previous hearings — agreed to proceedings in her absence.
This is the third court trial in this matter. The Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic quashed the previous two verdicts. The executors of the murder Miroslav Marček and Tomáš Szabó received 25-year unconditional sentences, and the intermediary Zoltán Andruskó 15 years. Szabó has been legally convicted since 2022 also for the preparation of the prosecutors' murders, to which he confessed.
Besides Kočner and Zsuzsová, Kracina and Darko Dragič also face charges in connection with the planned elimination of prosecutors Maroš Žilinka, Daniel Lipšic and Peter Šufliarsky. These murders did not take place.
Source: Google News SK — Crime (sk)