Minute by minute: Kočner is on trial for the murder of journalist Kuciak – REFRESHER

● Marian Kočner and Alena Zsuzsová return to the Specialized Criminal Court in Pezinok, the main hearing continues, the Senate will not replace the defendant at the request ● The Supreme Court stated that Senate President Ružena Sabová and another Senate Senate Rastislav Stieranka are not interested. He replaced the member of the Senate, Pamela Záleská ● Kočner continues to face a heavy sentence ● The specialized criminal court must proceed with the taking of evidence as ordered by the Supreme Court in the appeal. He will review all the evidence. 10:05 – Zlata Kušnírová will not be entitled to damages. The reason is that the only causal link between the Kuciak case and the murder of Martina Kušnírová is the decision of the shooter Marček, who murdered her while executing an order for the murder of Ján Kuciak. Judge Ružena Sabová pointed out that the case concerning Miroslav Marček was legally terminated and that the criminal case was excluded by the exclusion of a separate proceeding in the Kuciak case and therefore did not relate to what is being discussed now. This means that Zlata Kušnírová, for example, will not have access to the main hearing in the same position as before. “If the injured party does not claim damages, then it should be noted that he has no position in criminal proceedings, he cannot exercise any rights of the injured party. For example, he cannot ask questions in court proceedings, make motions to take evidence, have access to the file, etc., ”explained Kušnírová’s lawyer Roman Kvasnica in the past. 9:32 – The prosecutor reads the charges against Kočner and Zsuzsová. He again describes in detail how Miroslav Marček and Tomáš Szabó committed the murder. “In the summer kitchen next to the family house, he waited until 8:21 pm for a suitable moment, then he entered the family house through the front door without using violence and shot the injured Ján Kuciak twice with the pistol in question with the silencer fitted,” the prosecutor reads. Subsequently, the part of the indictment, which concerns the transfer of money from Alena Zsuzsová to the mediator of the murder and its executors, continues. The prosecutor subsequently read the indictment concerning the case of the murders of prosecutors Žilinka, Lipšica and Šufliarský. “We consider the accusation to be unfounded, the client will comment on it in more detail during the main hearing,” said Marian Parner’s lawyer Marek Para in response. Senate President Ružena of the Senate asked the lawyers to stick to a slower pace of narration when commenting on the indictment, so that they could write everything down. As lawyers speak more quickly, Sab interrupts them out loud. The lawyers of all the defendants consider the charge to be unfounded. Source: TASR – Martin Baumann 9:19 – Senate President Ružena Sabová summarized the current situation, recalled that the Supreme Court agreed with Marian Kočner’s objection and Senate member Pamela Záleská therefore replaced ŠTS judge Jozef Pikna. Sabová checked the presence of the parties to the proceedings. The families of the murdered Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová did not take part in today’s main hearing. The judge gives the defendants the opportunity to conclude an agreement on guilt and punishment, recalling that in such a case it is possible to impose a penalty of one third less than the lower limit. Marian Kočner, Alena Zsuzsová, Tomáš Szabó and other defendants do not want to enter into agreements on guilt and punishment. There was above-average noise in both the courtroom and the press room due to the chains on the defendants’ legs. When they stand, the chains pull on the ground. 9:00 – The main hearing in the Kuciak case and the case of the preparation of the murders of prosecutors begins. Marian Kočner and Alena Zsuzsová are also present at the court. They sit in a bench next to each other, two puppets sitting between them. 8:30 a.m. – The main hearing will again take place in the Specialized Criminal Court building, so journalists will wake up in a separate room and watch the events through television screens. At the last main hearing, the lawyers of the affected families requested to be transferred to the building of the Judicial Academy, where the trial in the Kuciak case took place last year. As a reason, the lawyers stated that they also want to be able to consult with their clients as well as the defense. While Kočner had the opportunity to sit directly behind his lawyer Marek Par, Kuciakovci, Zlatica Kušnúrov and their representatives sat on opposite sides in one row. Source: Viktor Kniš / Refresher 8:00 – The Kuciak case was merged with the case of the murder of prosecutors Daniel Lipšic, Maroš Žilinka and Petr Šufliarsky. Dušan Kracina and Darko Dragić are also indicted in it. The court will take all the evidence in this case. Marian Kočner. Source: TASR / Jakub Kotian 7:30 – At the end of March, the Supreme Court ruled on the bias of Judge Pamela Záleská, who supplemented the Senate of the Specialized Criminal Court in the Kuciak case. The Supreme Court agreed with the defendant’s objections, Marian Kočen, and found that there were objective circumstances which might cast doubt on the judge’s impartiality. At the main hearing at the end of February 2022, Marek Koča’s Plenipotentiary Plenipotentiary initially stated that Záleská could be biased because she was deciding as President of the Senate in December on the guilt of the mediator of the murder, Zoltán Andruskó. The Senate of Ružena Sabová reviewed the decision of December 30, 2019, when the Senate, headed by Záleská, knocked down Andruskó’s 15-year sentence. Even the convicted Andrusko himself originally expected a lower sentence for helping the police as a crown witness with the Kuciak case. Among other things, the court examined the interview of Judge Pamela Záleská for Denník N with the title Judge Pamela Záleská: Ten years for Andruskó were not enough, Kuciak’s murder was brutal on April 14, 2020. Záleská does not indicate the guilt Zoltán Andruskó, who confessed. Jozef Pikna replaced the forest place in the Senate. Report a bug. If you find a defect in the article or have comments, let us know. Preview image: TASR – Martin Baumann