Marian Kočner (source: TASR - Jakub Kotian)
The Supreme Court has issued a detailed written justification for its dramatic May ruling that once again returns the high-profile case of murdered investigative journalist Ján Kuciak to the lower Specialised Criminal Court for retrial – marking the second such reversal.
The court’s decision, led by Judge Peter Paluda, spans 109 pages, with a separate three-page dissenting opinion by Judge Dana Wänkeová, according to the daily SME. The judgment criticises serious procedural and evidentiary failings in a 2023 verdict that controversially acquitted businessman Marian Kočner – previously convicted in a separate fraud case – of orchestrating the 2018 murder of Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová.
Instead, the Specialised Criminal Court sentenced Kočner’s associate, Alena Zsuzsová, to 25 years in prison for arranging the killing. The Supreme Court now asserts that the lower court ignored binding instructions issued after its first review of the case in 2021.
“The Specialised Criminal Court failed to respect mandatory instructions from the higher court and did not carry out all the required evidentiary procedures,” Paluda’s panel wrote, concluding that a new panel of judges must now take over the case.
