Suspects Detained, Skeptics Remain

Michael Hedges October 1, 2018 - Follow on Twitter

There are moments in any society when a tangled, contentious issue is laid bare. Historians give their careers to these. Journalists don’t have the benefit of considered reflection. They must chronicle those moments in realtime. There can be a huge cost.

Public demonstrations under the banner of For A Decent Slovakia (Za Slusné Slovensko) resumed in Bratislava and other Slovak cities last Friday (September 28). The anti-corruption rallies, held each Friday, began last March shortly after Aktuality.sk investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancé, Martina Kusnirova, were gunned down. He had been looking into corrupt ties between government officials and organized crime elements.

Tens of thousands marched through city streets, to government offices, questioning political leadership and an appearance of inaction with regard to the murders. The sentiment took hold; prime minister Robert Fico, the interior minister and police officials stood down or were dismissed. A new prime minister was named though Mr. Fico, as head of the Smer party, retains political power. Channeling Hungarian president Viktor Orban, he recently said the demonstrations have been paid for by philanthropist George Soros. The rallies continued into the summer, the resignations deemed insufficient, then planned to resume at the end of September.

The day before the For A Decent Slovakia demonstrations were set to resume, the organized crime unit of National Crime Agency (Národná< kriminálna agentúra - NAKA) detained eight suspects, later charging three for “premeditated murder,” reported SME (September 28). Few details were offered. The rally in Bratislava went ahead with an air of cynicism. "The pressure of civil society is needed to ensure that investigators and the entire security apparatus are motivated,” said rally organizer Juraj Seliga. “People want to know the name of the killer and, in particular, the client.”

“When the trust fades, the police cannot afford to gamble with their seriousness by publishing news like this, bringing hope that justice will be served,” said Czech investigative reporter Pavla Holcová, quoted by SME. “I hope there are no such gamblers at NAKA and this is not just some superficial police training.” Ms Holcova, founder of the Czech Center for Investigative Journalism, had collaborated with Mr. Kuciak on corruption investigations. In May she was questioned by Slovak police and her mobile phone seized.

Investigative reporters in Slovakia and beyond developed several details. According to TV JOJ, investigators determined that one of the suspects accessed a map of the area where Jan Kuciak lived and was killed through a common internet application. Another source said contemporaneous satellite images of the murder scene were provided by US intelligence agencies. Police investigators used these to develop visual representations of one or more of the suspects using Identikit, a graphic composite image generator.

Police withheld the suspects’ names for 48 hours, identifying only by first names and initials. Serbian investigative reporters tracked down one, identified as Tomas Sz, reported investigative news portal krik.rs (September 27); a former police investigator and private bodyguard. His cousin, a former armed forces member, was also arrested. Identities of the three were revealed at a court hearing to determine custody, reported Czech news portal iDNES.cz (September 30).

A fourth person, arrested Friday (September 28) as “an accessory to murder,” was also arraigned at the specialized criminal court, She was identified by TV JOJ (September 28) as an Italian language translator for Marian Kocner, currently in jail, who once threatened Mr. Kuciak. Neither the prosecutor nor the defendants made statements at the hearing, said Aktuality.sk (September 30)

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• Hot Topics - Media in Slovakia

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