The case of the murder of Kuciak and Kušnírová: The Supreme Court excluded this judge from the decision – Nový Čas

The Supreme Court (NS) of the Slovak Republic excluded the judge of the Specialized Criminal Court (ŠTS) in Pezinok Pamela Záleská from the decision in the case of the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak, his fiancée Martina Kušnírová and the preparation of the murders of prosecutors. TASR was confirmed by the spokeswoman of the NS SR Alexandra Važanová. The Supreme Court stated that “there is a reasonable conclusion to exclude Judge Pamela Záleská from the hearing and decision in the case under review, when it is clear that there may be objective doubts about her impartiality, citing her previous decision in the case.” Marek Para, the defender of the accused businessman Marian Kočner, disagreed with Záleská’s participation in the senate. He objected to the presidency of the Senate, which in December 2019 approved the agreement on guilt and punishment of Zoltán Andruskó in the same case. The ŠTS Senate did not initially uphold the objection. The defense filed a complaint against this decision with the NS SR. The trial in the case of the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová began to be heard again at ŠTS in February 2022. The court also decided to connect the case with the case of the planned murder of prosecutors.