By Canadian Press

Businessman acquitted in murders of Slovak reporter, fiancee

Sep 3, 2020 | 3:25 AM

PEZINOK, Slovakia — A panel of judges in Slovakia on Thursday acquitted a businessman accused of masterminding the 2018 slayings of an investigative journalist who had written about him and the journalist’s fiancee.

The judges cleared the businessman, Marian Kocner, and one co-defendant of murder in the killings of journalist Jan Kuciak and fiancee Martina Kusnirova, both 27.

Judge Ruzena Sabova at the Specialized Criminal Court in PezinokSabova said there was not enough evidence for the convictions. A third defendant was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Prosecutors can appeal the verdicts.

“The only thing I can say is I’m disgusted,” the journalist’s father, Jozef Kuciak, told reporters.

Kuciak was shot in the chest and Kusnirova was shot in the head at their home in the town of Velka Maca, east of Bratislava, on Feb. 21, 2018.

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During Kocner’s trial, prosecutors told the court that the businessman had allegedly threatened the journalist following publication of a story about his business dealings. Overall, Kucial published nine stories about Kocner.

Kuciak filed a complaint over the alleged threats in 2017 and had claimed that police failed to act on it. He had been investigating possible government corruption when he was killed.

Two other defendants previously were convicted and sentenced. Former soldier Miroslav Marcek pleaded guilty to shooting Kuciak and Kusnirova and was sentenced to 23 years in prison in April. Prosecutors said Kocner paid Marcek to carry out the killings.

Another defendant who had acted as a go-between, Zoltan Andrusko, agreed to co-operate with prosecutors in exchange for a lesser sentence and received a 15-year prison term in December. He testified that Kocner ordered the slayings.

The killings prompted major street protests unseen since the 1989 anti-Communist Velvet Revolution and a political crisis that led to the collapse of the government .

The Associated Press