Journalist murder: Slovak police releases suspects

In the case of the murdered Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, the seven detainees were released. The journalist was buried in Slovakia.

Journalist murder: Slovak police releases suspects

The Slovak police have released all suspects who had arrested m in connection with murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée. The seven men were discharged from pre-trial custody within 24 hours after a review in accordance with legal requirements, police said.

According to Slovak media reports, detained were Italian businessman Antonino Vadala and several members of his family. The 27-year-old Kuciak had suspected her of having relations with Italian Mafia organization ' Ndrangheta.

Kuciak had mentioned names of suspects in his investigative article: his last report apparently was supposed to reveal a complicated mafia network, with connections reaching to highest Slovak government offices. Slovak media published unfinished text in cooperation with portal Aktuality.sk.

The assassination of journalist and his partner had caused worries about maintenance of freedom of press in EU states. On Friday, tens of thousands of Slovaks went on streets to commemorate victims and demonstrate against corruption. HunderteDemonstranten besieged Slovak seat of government in Bratislava and called for resignation of Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák and head of government Robert Fico.

Kaliňák has already been associated with corruption scandals in past – on Saturday he rejected resignation claim publicly. FICO also accused opposition of intrumentalisierening murder of Kuciak in order to stir up protests and to gain power in Bratislava.

Kuciak in Slovakia

Hundreds of people attended Kuciaks funeral in norrn Slovak Stiavnik on Saturday. "If murderer wanted to silence Ján, he has achieved opposite," said Archbishop Stanislav Zvolenský at funeral service. Thanks to Kuciaks research, everyone in Slovakia now wants to know more about influence of Italian mafia.

Kuciak and his girlfriend had been found shot on weekend. If his research is correct, four Italian families would have managed to make money out of government and EU subsidies. In order to hedge ir business, y introduced liaisons with politicians of social Democratic governing party and directly into office of Head of government Robert Fico. This would give m access to state secrets.

On Wednesday, Slovak Minister of Culture, Marek Maďarič, withdrew because of case. For a long time he had denounced possible links between criminals and politics and demanded resignation of Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák. Now, Maďarič said, "as a minister of culture, I cannot accept that a journalist will be murdered in my term."

Date Of Update: 04 March 2018, 12:03
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