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Hundreds of people gathered in Bratislava and other cities across Slovakia on Saturday to mark the eighth anniversary of the killings of investigative reporter Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová, in a case that shook the country but still lacks a final answer about who ordered their deaths.
The murders on Feb. 21, 2018, were carried out by gunman Miroslav Marček, who shot Kuciak twice in the chest and Kušnírová once in the head, while an accomplice, Tomáš Szabó, waited nearby, prosecutors said.
Both men are serving 25-year prison sentences. Authorities say they acted on instructions relayed by intermediary Zoltán Andruskó, who confessed and received a 15-year term.
Yet the central question — who commissioned the assassination — remains unresolved, leaving one of Europe’s most consequential journalist murder cases without closure.
Prosecutors allege that businessman Marian Kočner ordered the killing through an associate, Alena Zsuzsová, who then tasked Andruskó. Courts have twice acquitted Kočner and once convicted Zsuzsová, but each verdict has been overturned on appeal, effectively resetting the case.
The retrial, now underway at the Specialized Criminal Court in Pezinok, follows a ruling last May by the Supreme Court of Slovakia that cited serious flaws in how earlier judges evaluated evidence. The high court said the panel had failed to address key facts and had not followed prior judicial instructions.
The new proceedings, which opened in January and are scheduled to run through December, also include charges tied to alleged plots against prosecutors. Two additional defendants — Dušan Kračina and Darko Dragić — are accused in those cases.
The killings prompted mass demonstrations in 2018 that helped topple a government and reshaped the country’s political landscape. Eight years on, the case remains a symbol of unresolved justice and the risks faced by investigative journalists.
At a commemorative gathering at Freedom Square, Kuciak’s father, Jozef Kuciak, told attendees, according to The Slovak Spectator: “Every day we live with pain; every day we go to the cemetery to light candles instead of raising our grandchildren.”
In a statement, Pavol Szalai of Reporters Without Borders urged judges to “duly examine” all evidence and rule independently, adding, “Europe’s eyes are on Slovakia.”
Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, said the murders had “shaken Europe” and noted they came months after the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia. “Their courage remains a beacon for journalists across the continent who risk everything to uncover the truth and safeguard our democracies,” she wrote on X.
