The Slovak businessman and multimillionaire Marian Kocner has to answer in court on charges of ordering the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak in February 2018. The Prosecutor's Office in Bratislava said the murder was motivated by Investigative Journalist research. There is an objective proof for this, but it should not be made public at the moment. The 55-year-old Kocner was charged on 8 March.
"We have not found the murder weapon yet, but we have evidence of what kind of weapon it is," said a special prosecutor whose name was not disclosed for security reasons.
27-year-old Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova were shot dead in their village of Velka Maca, 65 kilometers east of Bratislava. The reporter had researched links between the Italian mafia and Slovak politicians. His unfinished article was published after his death.
Kuciak also dealt with fraudulent activities related to EU subsidies to agriculture and the business of Kocner's numerous companies.
Kocner has been imprisoned since June 2018
The murder of the journalist and the posthumous publication of his article had triggered mass demonstrations against the government and led to the resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico. His successor in March 2018 Peter Pellegrini.
In September 2018, the police arrested four suspects, including Kocner's former interpreter. Kocner had been in jail since June 2018 for fraud.
He had Kuciak monitored and threatened the journalist on the phone, as its former editor-in-chief Peter Bardy already explained in September 2017. Kuciak reported the threatening call to the authorities, but nothing happened.
According to media reports Kocner maintained links with members of the social democratic governing party Smer-SD, whose chairman is still Fico.