Leaks may have helped Kuciak murder suspects

Leaks and subsequent media reporting of information from the investigation file for the murder of Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová may have provided suspects with sufficient time to prepare themselves for potential police action. This according to Special Prosecutor Dušan Kováčik, who was speaking to MPs of the parliamentary security committee on Tuesday. Prosecutors at the Special Prosecutor's Office (USP) also view the leaks negatively, according to the special prosecutor's report on the office's activities and the state of respecting the rule of law in 2018. "I have never before experienced such a massive information leak from a file during the long years of my practice. It's all being done under the cover of a kind of public interest," stated Kováčik. Prosecutors also criticised leaks by lawyers of the victims, saying that these also gave suspects a chance to prepare ahead of time for action taken by police against them.