Third trial for Kuciak's murder in Pezinok: Kočner and other defendants fail to appear in court
The main hearing in the case of journalist Ján Kuciak's murder continues at the Specialised Criminal Court in Pezinok with the reading of documents. None of the four defendants appeared in court on Tuesday.
Third trial for journalist's murder: defendants absent in Pezinok again
According to Google News SK — Crime (sk), the main hearing in the case of journalist Ján Kuciak's murder, as well as in the case of the preparation of murders of prosecutors, continued on Tuesday at the Specialised Criminal Court (ŠTS) in Pezinok. None of the four defendants appeared in the courtroom.
The chairman of the ŠTS panel, Miroslav Mazúch, stated that defendant Dušan Kracina had submitted a motion to revoke restrictive measures — the obligation to report every change of residence and a ban on entering gambling establishments. In addition to the current proceedings, Kracina faces charges of fraud in public procurement and public auction, which were brought against him in 2023, and in 2024 further criminal offences including founding and supporting a criminal group and tax and insurance evasion.
At Tuesday's hearing, several documentary pieces of evidence were read. Among them was a measure from the then-prosecutor of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Maroš Žilinka, dated 8 March 2017, related to the Technopol Servis case. The court was also acquainted with articles by murdered journalist Ján Kuciak.
Case returned to court for the third time
Kuciak was murdered in February 2018. His fiancée Martina Kušnírová also died in the attack in Veľká Mača in Galanta district. Charged with ordering the murder are Marian Kočner and Alena Zsuzsová. The Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic quashed the previous two judgements, so the case has come before the ŠTS for the third time.
The direct perpetrators of the murder, Miroslav Marček and Tomáš Szabó, received 25-year unconditional prison sentences. The intermediary, Zoltán Andruskó, was sentenced to 15 years unconditionally. Szabó has been under a final conviction since 2022, having admitted to the preparation of the murders.
Charges also related to planned murders of prosecutors
Within the same proceedings, Kočner, Zsuzsová, Kracina and Darko Dragić also face court in connection with the preparation of murders of three prosecutors — Maroš Žilinka, Daniel Lipšic and Peter Šufliarsky. According to the indictment, the contract for the murders of Žilinka and Lipšic was to come in autumn 2017, and in the case of Šufliarsky in 2018. However, these were not carried out.
Source: Google News SK — Crime (sk)