Marian Kočner in the courtroom. (source: SME)
Following the Supreme Court decision that one judge in the panel dealing with the Kuciak murder case is biased, a new judge was appointed to replace her.
Jozef Pikna will join Ružena Sabová and Rastislav Stieranka in the Specialised Criminal Court panel to deal with the case involving the double murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, and the planned murder of two then prosecutors and a lawyer, the Denník N daily reported.
The panel also set new dates for the proceedings with defendants, who include Marian Kočner and Alena Zsuzsová, suspected of ordering the murders.
The next one will take place on April 14, and the following ones on May 3, 24-26, June 6-7 and 14-16-, and July 11-13.
Objection submitted by the prosecutor
The original objection to one panel member, Pamela Záleská, was submitted by the defendants who claimed she was biased. The objection was accepted by the Supreme Court in late March.
Subsequently, the prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor’s Office submitted an objection against both Sabová and Stieranka, questioning their potential bias. The Special Prosecutor’s Office explained that the reasons for such an objection follow the Supreme Court decision on excluding Záleská from the panel. Both Sabová and Stieranka were sitting on the panel that found Miroslav Marček guilty, who is another defendant in the Kuciak murder case who confessed to shooting the couple.
This objection was turned down by the Specialised Criminal Court panel on March 28, as the TASR newswire reported.
The Special Prosecutor’s Office will now decide whether it will challenge the decision in the Supreme Court, TASR reported.
