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| - Slovakia's Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the acquittals of a businessman and his suspected accomplice for the murder of a journalist in a case that triggered mass protests and toppled the country's previous government. Well-connected multi-millionaire Marian Kocner and his alleged accomplice Alena Zsuzsova will now face a new trial for the murder of Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova, who were killed in 2018. "I am glad that justice will finally prevail. I believe that a new verdict will be more just," Kuciak's father Jozef said after the ruling. In the ruling, judge Peter Paluda said the Supreme Court had found "several mistakes" in the trial and "therefore it returns the case to the lower court". The victims, both 27, were gunned down at home gangland-style after Kuciak wrote several stories on graft and the shady dealings by the influential entrepreneur with ties to senior government politicians. Reporters Sans Frontieres, an international media watchdog, hailed the ruling saying on Twitter that it was "a step towards truth and justice". Slovak President Zuzana Caputova said in a statement: "The suffering of parents and relatives of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova does not end after today's decision of the Supreme Court, but they are again one step closer to justice. "The Supreme Court has taken a very important step today to restore confidence in the judiciary," she said. Prosecutors argued that Kocner ordered Kuciak's murder in revenge for articles detailing his various property crimes. Prosecutor General Maros Zilinka wrote on his Facebook page that the ruling was "a significant moment for justice and the rule of law". In a statement in court in July last year, Kocner denied murder. "I am not a saint, but I am not a murderer either. I'm certainly not a fool who wouldn't realise what a journalist's murder would lead to," he said. But Peter Kubina, a lawyer for Kuciak's family, said on Tuesday that "if the court of the first instance did what it had to do, it could not conclude that Kocner and Zsuzsova were innocent". Of the five original suspects, two confessed and have already been sentenced, including the gunman. Ex-soldier and contract killer Miroslav Marcek received 23 years in April 2020 for killing the couple. The double murder plunged the country of 5.4 million people into crisis and triggered the largest demonstrations seen since the fall of communism. Prime minister Robert Fico was forced to resign and replaced by his populist left-wing Smer-SD party deputy Peter Pellegrini. Parliamentary elections last year were won by the opposition, paving the way for a new centre-right, anti-graft government. juh/dt/spm
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