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| - Slovakia's Supreme Court is set to rule on Tuesday in an appeal against the acquittal of a businessman on charges of ordering the murder of a journalist in a case that exposed high-level corruption. Well-connected multi-millionaire Marian Kocner and his suspected accomplice, Alena Zsuzsova, had faced up to 25 years in prison for the double murder of Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova. The killing shocked the ex-communist nation and ultimately toppled the government of the time. But the two were acquitted last year. The court can either uphold that ruling or order a new trial. "We're afraid that the court will uphold the verdict and we will not see the truth," Zlatica Kusnirova, the mother of the murdered girl, told the local Plus Jeden Den daily on Monday. "But we're still determined to fight on. If necessary, we'll appeal to the European Court of Justice," she said. Kuciak's father Jozef said after the verdict on September 3, 2020 that he felt "paralysed". "We can only hope that justice will eventually prevail," he said. The victims, both 27, were gunned down at home gangland-style after Kuciak wrote several stories on graft and the shady dealings of the influential entrepreneur with ties to senior government politicians. Prosecutors argued that Kocner ordered Kuciak's murder in revenge for articles detailing his various property crimes. 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. 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/mas/bp
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