Police Detain Suspects over Murders of Kuciak and Kusnirova

Bratislava, September 27 (TASR) – The National Criminal Agency (NAKA) has detained violent crime suspects on Thursday morning, with the information available to TASR saying that the action is related to the murders of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova.

“We’re currently conducting house searches and other procedural operations. We’ll provide more information when the situation allows,” the police said on a social network.

The lawyer of the Kuciak family, Daniel Lipsic, appeals to the public on a social network to have confidence in the results of the investigation so far. “The investigation team has also been composed of experienced investigators and the case has been supervised by two extraordinarily knowledgeable prosecutors of the Special Prosecutor’s Office. The extent of the investigation, also with the participation of Europol and other foreign bodies, has been unprecedented. I know that there is general scepticism in our country towards our security authorities but I want to ask for confidence in the results of this investigation. The public pressure has contributed to no one daring to intervene in its course,” said Lipsic.

Jan Kuciak was an investigative journalist working for news website Aktuality.sk. He and his fiancée were murdered in their house in Velka Maca (Trnava region) on February 21, 2018.

[Kuciak in his final article, released unfinished after his murder, outlined alleged links between figures supposedly belonging to the Italian Mafia in Slovakia and some high-ranking officials at the Slovak Government Office.

The double murder in late February provoked mass protests across the country, eventually leading to the resignations of prime minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) along with several other Cabinet ministers and state officials. – ed. note]