Italian Anti-Mafia Prosecutor Doubts Dissolution of Kuciak Investigation Team

Trnava, November 11 (TASR) - Italian national Anti-Mafia and Counter-Terrorism Public Prosecutor Federico Cafiero de Raho appreciated the work of the team that was investigating the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak and his bride-to-be Martina Kusnirova at an international conference called 'Slovakia against All Mafias' held in Trnava on Monday, adding that he questions the decision to dissolve this team. De Raho spoke about how mafias are rooted in Slovakia as well as Europe, the operations of the Italian criminal organisation 'Ndrangheta in Slovakia and the necessity to adopt common legislation against mobs. "Mafias aim to establish themselves in countries where the fight against them isn"t too intense. At the same time, they operate in fields that aren"t extraordinary, however, it"s easy to invest and 'hide' in them," he noted. Roman Kvasnica and Daniel Lipsic, the lawyers of the families of Kuciak and Kusnirova, also took part in the conference. According to Kvasnica, the results of the investigation have shown that Slovak state authorities, especially the Police Corps and the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) couldn"t reveal and dismantle serious criminal activities and let them grow so much that they started to threaten and subsequently decompose the establishment of Slovakia. Lipsic noted that Kuciak"s work needs to be finished. "If someone thought that journalists will get spooked and will stop writing about links of criminal with the judiciary and politics after the murder, they were very wrong," he said. The parents of Kuciak and Kusnirova consider that the fact the team has been dissolved shows disrespect towards the murdered couple. The conference took place on their initiative. zel/mcs