Topic

Kuciak murder trial

Investigative reporter Ján Kuciak was killed in his house in Veľká Mača. His fiancée Martina Kušnírová was shot dead along with him. Very soon after their dead bodies were discovered on February 26, 2018, the police said that the murder was most likely linked to Kuciak’s journalistic work.  Unlike most cases of murdered journalists in the world, the police detained and charged not just the persons whom they believe to have fired the shots, but also those who ordered the murder.

The trial with Marián Kočner, Alena Zsuzsová, Tomáš Szabó and Miroslav Marček started on January 13, 2020.

Zoltán Andruskó, who has admitted to having acted as the middleman between those who ordered the murder and those who executed it, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on December 30, 2019 in a separate proceeding, based on his plea bargain deal. He has thus become an important witness in the case against the four persons. 

Hitman Miroslav Marček pleaded guilty on the first day of the trial. His case was then singled out for a separate trial. Marček was finally sentenced to 25 years in prison in December 2020.

On September 3, 2020, the senate of the Specialised Criminal Court delivered its verdict in the case. Szabó has been found guilty and sentenced to 25 years in a maximum-security prison. Marian Kočner and Alena Zsuzsová were acquitted of charges related to the murders. 

>>> Who was Ján Kuciak and how did he become a journalist?

>>> What was the development on the Slovak political scene in the immediate days after the murder?

>>> Slovakia: Timeline of events during the first year after the murder >>> Who are the people charged in the murder case?

>>> How the trial went in its initial days (overview)

>>> Read more about how the Kuciak case changed Slovakia 

>>> The doubts that played in favour of Kočner (analysis of the verdict)

List of articles

Marian Kočner as pictured on May 24, 2022.
The Ján Kuciak case will be decided by the Supreme Court on appeal. and 2 more
Marian Kočner arrives in court in Pezinok, western Slovakia, on May 19, 2023.
Zsuzsová was found guilty of masterminding the murder of the journalist, but the judges could not find any direct evidence linking Marian Kočner, a subject of Kuciak's stories, to the murder.
Marian Kočner during the April 2023 hearings.
Pair on trial for 2018 killings of journalist Ján Kuciak and fiancee Martina Kušnírová.
Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová portrayed in a metal heart displayed on the SNP Square in Bratislava back in 2020.
Kočner is in jail, Fico is on a roll. What happened to the people connected to the Kuciak case?
The court heard testimony from cooperating defendant and former top police official Bernard Slobodník on July 12, 2022. The retrial resumed this week after a break of several weeks.
The retrial of the Ján Kuciak murder case resumed at the Specialised Criminal Court this week.
Kočner and Zsuzsová during court session in April.
The retrial of the Kuciak murder case continued with the testimony of the main witness whom the court doubted in its first verdict.
GP Maroš Žilinka
Court heard the testimonies of prosecutors whose murders the defendants are believed to have ordered. and 2 more
Tomáš Szabó at the Specialised Criminal Court.
Tomáš Szabó's confession could affect Kuciak killing case.
Marian Kocner and Alena Zsuzsova in court.
The retrial of Kočner, charged with ordering journalist’s killing, begins on February 28.
Marian Kocner and his lawyer at the Supreme Court
Overturning not-guilty verdicts, especially in cases as emotive as the Kuciak murder trial, is a very bad idea.
Marian Kočner in Supreme Court during the appellate proceeding in the Kuciak murder trial.
Slovakia breathes a collective sigh of relief as Kočner is stripped of his not-guilty verdict – for now.
Marian Kocner at the Supreme Court, June 15, 2021.
The original verdict had been surrounded by questions since before it was delivered.
Marian Kocner at the Supreme Court on June 15, 2021.
Bereaved families, journalists and society in general hope for a well-reasoned and just verdict.
Marian Kočner
Foto
The Supreme Court overturned the original verdict. The first-instance court will deal with the case again and consider newly-proposed evidence.
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