Identikit of the man wanted as a witness in the case of Ján Kuciak murder (source: TASR)
A man identified as Marek, aged 38, from the village of Veľká Mača, contacted the Nový Čas daily concerning the identikit picture presented by the Special Prosecutor’s Office earlier in September. It depicts a person that might have been close to the crime scene and may hold crucial information about the murders of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová.
The wanted man is allegedly his ex-colleague, Miroslav Č., aged 32, who lived in the same village but has since left for the Czech Republic.
The two men worked together as masons in Trnava this summer and both lived in Veľká Mača (which is located some 20 kilometres south-east from Trnava), the Sme daily wrote on September 22. Miroslav Č. allegedly boasted of personally knowing some figures from the Italian Vadala family that Kuciak linked to the Italian Mafia in his last article.
“Miro had been living in a rented house for around 18 months in [Veľká] Mača with his wife, child and mother,” Marek told the tabloid daily, as quoted by the TASR newswire. “I was released from prison some two months ago. We worked together for roughly two weeks in August, but he did a bunk from work at the end of the month. He didn’t come to work in September at all and then he left for the Czech Republic.”
The Special Prosecutor’s Office refused to comment on the case.
Who is Miroslav Č.?
Miroslav Č. who originally comes from eastern Slovakia – from Poprad, Sme suggested – allegedly seemed to be a rather withdrawn person who did not talk much to colleagues, but on one occasion he revealed that he used to be a cage fighter as well as knowing some figures from the Vadala family.
The police asked Marek to pinpoint Miroslav’s former house in Veľká Mača but he said that he knew the location only approximately.
“They showed me the route to the crime scene,” he added. “They said that there were no security cameras and he could have done it, as he had been living in the village for some time and he had known the location of the cameras.”
Neighbours told Nový Čas that Miroslav had lived in the village with his family, for about a year.
“Then, he left for somewhere near Ostrava (in the Czech Republic),” one neighbour confirmed for the daily.
She added that there were more people living in that very house, and often the group of tenants was quite big.
“There were rumours in the village that after the murder – it happened some time in February – he began gambling on the machines on a grand scale, even though he had no job and no income,” the witness added, as cited by TASR. “I don’t know whether it’s him, it might only be speculation.”
Investigation moves on
The Special Prosecutor’s Office informed on September 18 that the investigative journalist and his fiancée were obviously shot and killed at their home in Veľká Mača by a contracted hitman.
Kuciak in his final article, released unfinished after his murder, alleged links between figures supposedly belonging to the Italian Mafia in Slovakia to some high-ranking officials at the Slovak Government Office.
The double murder in late February provoked mass protests across the country, eventually leading to the resignations of Prime Minister Robert Fico and other top state officials.
