Overview
- Proceedings began at the Special Criminal Court in Pezinok with a full evidentiary hearing, 43 hearing dates scheduled, and the victims’ families seeking justice as the case restarts.
- Businessman Marian Kocner, accused of ordering the 2018 killings, faces retrial alongside alleged fixer Alena Zsuzsova, and both defendants continue to deny involvement.
- Kocner is serving a 19-year sentence for financial crimes, and Zsuzsova remains incarcerated in an unrelated murder-conspiracy case.
- Three others have been convicted in the Kuciak case, including two gunmen serving 25-year terms and a middleman who received 15 years after cooperating with prosecutors.
- Press-freedom advocates, including Reporters Without Borders, urged a rigorous review of all evidence and framed the proceedings as a key test of accountability in Europe.