Bratislava, Nov. 6, (dpa/GNA) – Several former police chiefs have been arrested and a series of raids conducted over the 2018 murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak in Slovakia, the prosecutor’s office for organized crime said on Thursday.
A spokeswoman for the prosecution said a special unit of police officers had arrested the men on suspicion of forming a criminal network, but declined to give further details.
Television channel Markiza showed the private residence of a former police chief being raided as well as his arrest, while other media showed the arrests of three other formerly high-ranking police officials.
Since the murder of Kuciak and his fiancée in February 2018, the Slovak police have been investigating corrupt networks in the judiciary and the police.
Millionaire Marian Kocner, accused of having commissioned Kuciak’s murder, is said to have systematically bribed and blackmailed judges and prosecutors in order to buy acquittals in his numerous fraud scandals.
Thirteen judges were arrested in March, including the former state secretary for justice, Monika Jankovska. She is said to have manipulated court proceedings on behalf of Kocner.
On September 3, Kocner was surprisingly acquitted of the charge of having ordered the murder of Kuciak, who had reported on Kocner’s murky dealings, but also on other corruption cases.
After the murder, mass demonstrations led to the resignation of the government at the time.
GNA