More concerns about independence of Kuciak murder investigation

General Prosecutor demands the police request their approval before they release any more information about the investigation.

General Prosecutor Jaromír Čižnár hopes the police will only inform about the progress that is "objectively documented".General Prosecutor Jaromír Čižnár hopes the police will only inform about the progress that is "objectively documented". (Source: SITA)

The police, including their president, Tibor Gašpar, should be more cautious when making statements about the investigation of the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak, and his fiancee, Martina Kusnirova.

General Prosecutor Jaromír Čižnár complained on the TA3 news channel earlier on Sunday that the police should not publish a possible motive for the murder one day just to say it's not confirmed the following day.

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"It throws doubts at the whole work of the people who intensively, really intensively work on it," the General Prosecutor said, adding that people will "either think that we are at a loose end or that there are attempts to mislead".

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Čižnár stressed that he wants to inform the public about the case, but only once he has "objectively documented" information.

On Thursday, Čižnár issued an order that the police are only to inform about the case with the approval of the prosecutor who oversees the case. Čižnár, however, admitted that he cannot give a direct order to the police and only hopes that they will respect his demands, the Sme daily wrote. Čižnár stated he receives information about the progress of the investigation once every two days, while politicians do not obtain such information, Sme added.

Police asks drivers for help

The police meanwhile suggested that the murders probably took place earlier than originally thought. The first estimates pointed to Thursday night.

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The mother of Kušnírová told the tabloid daily Nový Čas that she had not been able to reach her daughter by phone since Wednesday.

On Sunday, the police called on people from the districts of Galanta, Šaľa, Dunajská Streda and all those who passed through the districts to save the data from their car cameras from Wednesday, February 21, particularly between 17:00 and 22:00.

Those who have such data available are requested to share them with the police via the e-mail address velkamaca@minv.sk.

Questions about NAKA head surround investigation

The opposition accuses the police of unusual proceedings in the investigation. Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MP, Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová, alleged on the Sunday noon political debate show of the public-service, RTVS, that Gašpar was the only one among police leaders to get reports about the investigation. Normally his vice-presidents get the reports too, she alleged, citing her discussion with one of the vice-presidents.

Nicholsonová insists that it is a manipulation of the investigation. Her counterpart in the debate, Interior Minister Róbert Kaliňák, told her she did not understand the investigation at all.

Kaliňák also reacted to the allegations reported by the Trend weekly who wrote that the head of the national anti-corruption unit NAKA, Róbert Krajmer, was among the first people to appear at the crime scene even though investigation of murders does not fall under his office.

Kaliňák argued that it was Krajmer and his team who in November proposed that charges be pressed in five corruption cases concerning the Vadala family that was also featured in the last article by Ján Kuciak, Sme daily noted.

However, Trend reporter Zuzana Petková dismissed Kaliňák's explanation, pointing out that when Krajmer arrived on the crime scene, it was not yet known that Kuciak was writing about Vadala.

In November 2017, Kuciak also wrote about Krajmer, alleging his indirect connections with the businessman Norbert Bödör, who reportedly is linked with Smer. Aktuality.sk reported earlier that Krajmer's wife has links with Bödör, Sme daily noted.

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