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- A Slovakian courtroom acquitted for a second time Marian Kocner who was accused of being behind the 2018 homicide of an investigative journalist and his fiancée.
- Kocner’s affiliate, Alena Zsuzsova, was convicted of her position within the killings and sentenced to 25 years in jail.
- Kocner allegedly threatened the journalist following publication of a narrative about his enterprise dealings, prosecutors stated.
A courtroom in Slovakia has acquitted for a second time a businessman accused of masterminding the 2018 slaying of an investigative journalist and his fiancée.
The Specialized Criminal Court in Pezinok, close to the capital, Bratislava, which handles Slovakia’s most severe circumstances, dominated Friday that Marian Kocner was not responsible of murdering Jan Kuciak, who had written about him prior to now, and Martina Kusnirova, each aged 27.
The crime shocked the nation and induced the federal government to fall.
The courtroom stated “it was not confirmed” that Kocner was the mastermind.
Nevertheless, Kocner’s affiliate, Alena Zsuzsova, was convicted over her position within the killings and sentenced to 25 years in jail.
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The case will not be over but as each the prosecution and the defendants can enchantment.
Prosecutors had requested life imprisonment for each defendants.
The dad and mom of Kuciak and Kusnirova left the courtroom earlier than the studying of the sentence was accomplished.
“There is no logic in it,” the journalist’s father, Jozef Kuciak, informed reporters. “I do not get it in any respect.”
“In fact, we’ll enchantment,” Zlata Kusnirova, the mom of Martina stated. “It is unimaginable what occurred,” she stated. “It is a disgrace for justice.”
Kuciak was shot within the chest and Kusnirova was shot within the head at their house within the city of Velka Maca, east of Bratislava, on Feb. 21, 2018.
Kocner allegedly threatened the journalist following publication of a narrative about his enterprise dealings, prosecutors stated. Total, Kuciak revealed 9 tales about Kocner.
The killings prompted main avenue protests unseen because the 1989 anti-communist Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. The following political disaster led to the collapse of a coalition authorities headed by populist Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Kuciak had been investigating attainable authorities corruption when he was killed.
It was the second time the Pezinok courtroom dominated within the case.
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Initially, it acquitted Kocner in September 2020, saying there was not sufficient proof for the convictions. The prosecutors appealed.
Slovakia’s Supreme Court docket dismissed the acquittal in June 2021, saying the decrease courtroom didn’t correctly assess obtainable proof when it cleared Kocner and Zsuzsova and ordering a retrial.
Three different defendants were previously convicted and sentenced to stiff jail phrases.
One in every of them, former soldier Miroslav Marcek, pleaded responsible to capturing Kuciak and Kusnirova and was sentenced to 23 years in jail in April 2020. Prosecutors stated Kocner paid Marcek to hold out the killings.
Within the meantime, Kocner was sentenced to 19 years in jail in a separate forgery case whereas Zsuzsova obtained 21 years in jail for her position within the killing of a mayor.
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These verdicts are closing.
In December 2019, the U.S. Treasury Division imposed sanctions on Kocner and 6 of his companies for threatening Kuciak.
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