Jan Kuciak: Murdered journalist's father and press freedom campaigners welcome retrial order
, Martina Kusnirova's mother Zlatica, and Jan Kuciak's brother Jozef at the Supreme Court, Bratislava, June 15, 2021. - Copyright Jaroslav Novak/TASR via AP
The father of an investigative journalist murdered in Slovakia has welcomed a court's decision to order a retrial of two key suspects.
Three judges on the Supreme Court said the lower criminal court did not assess the evidence properly when it cleared Marian Kocner and co-defendant Alena Zsuzsova of murdering Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova, both 27, in 2018.
The killings sparked huge protests and brought about the resignation of then-Prime Minister Robert Falco.
"I am happy that finally justice is being done. I think a new verdict will be more just," said Kuciak's father Jozef.
Kusnirova's mother, Zlatica Kusnirova, added: "I have mixed feelings, but I'm glad that justice won."
The suffering of the parents and dear ones of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova is not over yet but they’re a step closer to justice," Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova said after the panel issued its ruling.
The judges said that in coming to the earlier decision last September, the criminal court in Pezinok had evaluated the evidence without applying "elementary logic" in some instances, and failed to consider it at all in others. The case has been sent back to the lower court but no date for a retrial has been set.
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