STS: Senate to Admit Communications from Threema App as Evidence in Kuciak case

Pezinok, 26 January (TASR) - A senate of the Specialised Criminal Court (STS) will admit communications from the Threema application from a seized mobile phone as evidence in the case of the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak in February 2018, according to a statement by senate chairman Miroslav Mazuch. A motion to exclude evidence in the form of communications from the Threema app was submitted by Marian K.'s lawyer Marek Para. The court has rejected this motion. At Monday's main hearing, Darko D. (name abbreviated due to legal reasons), a defendant in the case of the planned murders of prosecutors Maros Zilinka and Daniel Lipsic, testified. "I have no connection to the case," he emphasised, adding that he only knows witness Ilja Weiss. He decided not to answer any questions from the parties to the proceedings. The defendant's previous statements were then read out. Dusan K. responded by saying that he saw Darko D. for the first time at the main hearing in Pezinok. In the case of the murder of Kuciak in February 2018, during which Kuciak's fiancée Martina Kusnirova was also killed, Marian K. and Alena Zs. are facing charges for ordering the killings. The previous two verdicts were overturned by the Supreme Court. The case has thus been referred to the Supreme Court for the third time. The perpetrators of the murder, Miroslav Marcek and Tomas Szabo, have already been sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment, while Zoltan Andrusko has been sentenced to 15 years. In addition to Marian K. and Alena Zs., Dusan K. and Darko D. are also facing charges for plotting the murders of prosecutors. According to the indictment, the orders to kill Zilinka and Lipsic allegedly came in the autumn of 2017. In the case of Peter Sufliarsky, the order was allegedly made in 2018. am/df