On Monday, Ivan Kočner decided not to testify in court against his brother, the controversial businessman Marián Kočner in the case of the murdered journalist Ján Kuciak, where Marián is charged of ordering the murder. "I am in a close relationship with the charged and I would like to use my right not to testify," said Ivan Kočner in the court. Therefore, his testimony from the investigation process was read out. Ivan Kočner told the police earlier that his brother once mentioned to him at a birthday party that there was a possibility that a journalist might be killed. The charged Marián said in the court that his brother is not trustworthy. In his response, Ivan said that it is his right to say that.
In this case, Miroslav Marček already confessed to pulling the trigger and has already been sentenced to 23 years in prison, but the prosecutor in charge has appealed against the verdict. Zoltán Andruskó, who featured as an intermediary in the murder, is now already serving his 15-year sentence. Other figures involved include Miroslav Marček's alleged driver Tomáš Szabó and Alena Zsuzsová, charged of acting as a go-between.
Investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová were shot dead in February 2018 and their murder triggered mass protests across the whole of Slovakia resulting in the reconstruction of the government with then Prime Minister Robert Fico, Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák and Head of Police Corps Tibor Gašpar stepping down.
