Slovakia - May 2023

A Slovakian criminal court has acquitted controversial businessman Marian Kočner of the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his partner in 2018. The court sentenced Kočner’s associate Alena Zsuzsová to 25 years in prison. Kočner and Zsuzsová were acquitted in 2020 due to a lack of evidence, but the Supreme Court ordered a retrial in 2022. Protests over media freedom and political corruption in conjunction with Kuciak’s death triggered the 2018 fall of the Smer government, led by populist Robert Fico, who has since emerged as a strong contender in the September elections. Politicians and oligarchs have sought to influence media to undermine efforts to prosecute the high levels of corruption that came to light following Kuciak’s murder, according to a May report by the International Press Institute. 

Sources: Al Jazeera, Balkan Insight, IPI, Pravda, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)