Suspect who paid €70,000 for Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak’s murder arrested

A female suspect paid €70,000 for the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak who was killed together with his girlfriend Martina Kušnírová in February, according to the General Prosecutor’s Office in Slovakia.

The woman, named as “Alena Zs. ordered the murder. Tomas Sz. (former police officer) was the one who shot them, Miroslav M. was a driver and Zoltan A. an intermediary,” the prosecutor told reporters during a press conference in Bratislava.

All four individuals have been detained and charged.

Kuciak had been probing ties between politicians and the Italian mafia when the couple were killed in their home near Bratislava. The deaths triggered mass protests and toppled a prime minister.

The prosecutor said that Alena Zs. had allegedly paid €50,000 and forgiven a €20,000 debt owed to her by  Zoltán A. in exchange for the murder. His girlfriend was a victim who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, The Slovak Spectator reported.