PRAGUE — 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 instances, dominated Friday that Marian Kocner was not responsible of murdering Jan Kuciak, who had written about him up to now, and Martina Kusnirova, each aged 27.
The crime shocked the nation and brought on the federal government to fall.
The courtroom mentioned “it was not proven” that Kocner was the mastermind.
The International Press Institute, a world media freedom group primarily based in Vienna, referred to as the acquittal “shocking.” It mentioned on Twitter it “represents another devastating blow to the fight for justice for Jan Kuciak & his fiancée Martina Kusnirova. Our thoughts are with their families. The fight for justice will continue.”
However, Kocner’s affiliate, Alena Zsuzsova, who acted as an middleman, was convicted over her position within the killings and sentenced to 25 years in jail.
The case is just not 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’s no logic in it,” the journalist’s father, Jozef Kuciak, informed reporters. “I don’t get it at all.”
“Of course, we’ll appeal,” Zlata Kusnirova, the mom of Martina mentioned. “It’s impossible what happened,” she mentioned. “It’s a shame 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 mentioned. Overall, Kuciak printed 9 tales about Kocner.
The killings prompted main avenue protests unseen because the 1989 anti-communist Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. The ensuing 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.
Originally, it acquitted Kocner in September 2020, saying there was not sufficient proof for the convictions. The prosecutors appealed.
Slovakia’s Supreme Court dismissed the acquittal in June 2021, saying the decrease courtroom didn’t correctly assess accessible proof when it cleared Kocner and Zsuzsova and ordering a retrial.
Three different defendants have been beforehand convicted and sentenced to stiff jail phrases.
One of them, former soldier Miroslav Marcek, pleaded responsible to taking pictures Kuciak and Kusnirova and was sentenced to 23 years in jail in April 2020. Prosecutors mentioned Kocner paid Marcek to hold out the killings.
In the meantime, Kocner was sentenced to 19 years in jail in a separate forgery case whereas Zsuzsova acquired 21 years in jail for her position within the killing of a mayor.
Those verdicts are remaining.
In December 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Kocner and 6 of his companies for threatening Kuciak.
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