The senate of the Specialised Criminal Court in Pezinok has ruled that it will allow several mobile phones containing the cryptic Threema app to be used as evidence in the case of the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova. The evidence includes two iPhones belonging to Marian Kocner, the person who allegedly ordered the murder, and two iPhones belonging to Alena Zsuzsova, who allegedly passed on the order at the behest of Marian Kocner. According to the lawyer of the bereaved, Daniel Lipsic, the communications contained in these phones show that the two planned Kuciak's murder. The court has not yet stated when the communications will be read out in the courtroom, however.
Police and Europol experts who extracted the communications from the devices testified in court. They explained how they had extracted the chats and how they had managed to restore several deleted messages. The prosecutor wanted the public to be excluded from this part of the proceedings so that it could not discover how the police proceed when investigating cyber-criminal activities.
The senate has adjourned the proceedings in the case of the murders of journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova until March and April. It wants Marian Kocner to be examined by a psychiatrist and a psychologist for a possible determination of his sentence.
Marian Kocner, Alena Zsuzsova, Tomas Szabo and Miroslav Marcek are on trial. The murder was allegedly ordered by Zsuzsova who was in turn allegedly acting according to a commission from well-known businessman Marian Kocner. His shady activities were frequently the target of Kuciak's articles. Andrusko, who acted as a go-between in the Kuciak murder, has already admitted his guilt and has been sentenced to 15 years in jail. Marian Kocner, Alena Zsuzsova and an alleged member of the hit duo, Tomas Szabo, still claim their innocence.
Kuciak and Kusnirova were shot dead in their house in Velka Maca, south western Slovakia, on February 21, 2018.
