“The Murder of a Journalist” explores a shocking crime that overthrew a government for the love of doctors

On the evening of February 20, 2018, bride-to-be Martina Kušnírová searched online for wedding dresses in the home she shared with her fiance, journalist Ján Kuciak. They would not survive the night.

The documentary, directed by Matt Sarnecki, investigates the shocking murder of the young couple in Slovakia’s Galanta district and finds evidence that powerful forces in the country wanted Kuciak dead and were willing to pay to have the job done. The compelling and disturbing film aired Tuesday night as part of Deadline’s For the Love of Docs virtual event series.

“The day after the bodies were found, friends of Jan and Martina and some journalists, local journalists, asked me to come to the crime scene because they wanted my help,” Sarnecki explained during a panel discussion after the show. “The reason they wanted my help is because one of my previous films was about the 2016 murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet in Kiev, Ukraine. So basically they wanted me to try to do the same thing in Slovakia. And if someone asks you for help, you can’t say no.”

The couple’s death sparked massive public protests in Slovakia, leading to the ouster of key political and law enforcement figures in the country, one after the other, including Prime Minister Robert Fico and his cabinet. But the question of motive and who was responsible for the murders remained a mystery until a computer disk containing 70 terabytes of information about the case was leaked.

“That’s when I realized that you could make a remarkable film not only about the murder of a journalist,” Sarnecki said, “but also about how it led to a blueprint of how a corrupt and closed state would function.” . “

The documentary contains shocking evidence and other investigative material, such as B. Video of the killer confessing to the crime and authorities walking step-by-step through the crime scene to show how he killed Kuciak and then his fiancee. Cellphone records and other evidence suggest that a powerful businessman – Marian Kočner – committed the murder after becoming upset over the journalist’s coverage of his shady activities. Kočner is said to have used an associate, Alena Zsuzsová, to arrange the murder (Kuciak’s fiancee was apparently not an intended target, but collateral damage).

“They thought they were invincible,” Sarnecki said of Kočner and Zsuzsová. “I think there were so many years of impunity where they thought they could do anything… Kočner… seemed unconcerned. And the same with [Zsuzsová]… She didn’t seem worried because I think the idea was, ‘We can get away with these things.’ And I think it’s the culture. There was a culture of impunity in the country.”

He added: “I would say they were arrogant. But things have changed. And in the end, they are both now behind bars, not for the murders, but for other crimes.”

Sarnecki, an American-born investigative journalist and filmmaker, has been living in Eastern Europe for the past ten years. For the murder of a journalistHe teamed up with four-time Oscar-nominated producer Signe Byrge Sørensen.

“It was very important for us to tell the story of what happens in a larger society, what happens to democracy when you have a system where an oligarchy can control parts of the police force and parts of the judiciary. and part of the political system,” Sørensen noted. “It was also shown how [Kočner] also responsible for some of these politicians and how they all used each other. And it’s a bigger company [issue] and more than a true crime [documentary], but really important, because if we don’t know these things are happening and if we don’t know how important the work of journalists is to expose these types of crimes, then maybe we don’t care enough about our media and our press . And we desperately need them to keep our democracies healthy.”

Watch the conversation in the video above. Our For the Love of Docs virtual event series is presented by National Geographic.