Marian Kočner in court. (source: Sme)
He complained a lot about the media and mentioned many underworld figures and people who are now dead in his story of the TV Markíza promissory notes. Marian Kočner practically spent the whole day on Monday in court.
Kočner stood trial on September 9, 2019 for the case of forging promissory notes. He and former director of the private Markíza TV and former economy minister, Pavol Rusko, are charged with forging notes to get millions of euros from the current owner of Markíza.
>>> What is the promissory notes case all about? Read more in an article by Adam Valček
Kočner attended the main session of the court in the promissory notes case, which started shortly after 9 am in the Palace of Justice in Bratislava. He had been transported there from Leopoldov prison the night before, under heavy security measures.
Pavol Rusko, who attended the entire first phase of the trial, abstained this time. His lawyer Marek Para submitted his written agreement that the court should proceed in his absence.
Kočner's speech, together with the questions from the prosecutor, the present lawyers and the court, took until about 16:30. Kočner mentioned many underworld figures and many people who are now dead and cannot testify.
These include attorney Ernest Valko, who according to Kočner and Rusko, helped prepare the promissory notes. Valko was murdered in 2010 in his house in Limbach. Intelligence service officer Jaroslav Svěchota and the 1990s Košice-based oligarch Alexander Rezeš, both late, were mentioned too.
Criticising the media
The trial was the first time Kočner was allowed to speak in public after he was taken into custody last year.
In the intervening time, the story around the murder of Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová, the suspicions against Kočner and his associates, and his leaked coded messages, as well as the promissory notes trial, dominated the news cycle most of the weeks. Kočner took his appearance in court, and the monologue he could lead as a defendant, as an opportunity to give his viewpoint and criticise the media.
