UPDATE 1-Four charged with Slovak journalist's killing appear in court

A Slovak businessman and three others appeared in court for the first time on Thursday to face charges over the murder of an investigative journalist and his fiancée, a case that triggered mass protests against corruption. Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova, both 27, were gunned down in their house outside the capital Bratislava in 2018.

As she arrived in court, Kusnirova's mother demanded that Kuciak's unfinished investigations be resolved. Prosecutors say entrepreneur Marian Kocner, a subject of Kuciak's reporting on fraud cases involving politically connected businessmen, had contracted his killing.

The murders stoked public anger over perceived corruption in Slovakia, leading to the biggest protests since communism ended three decades earlier. The case is a test of Slovak police and judicial independence given that the investigation exposed business and personal links between Kocner and police and public officials.

"We will be satisfied only when all the cases Jan wrote about are solved. Then their deaths will make at least some sense. It's not enough to convict the murderers," Zlatica Kusnirova told reporters as she entered the Special Criminal Court in Pezinok near the capital Bratislava. Guards in balaclavas and bearing automatic rifles led the handcuffed defendants into a courtroom set up at the Justice Academy to accommodate large numbers of media and public.

At Thursday's hearing, judges will either set the date for the trial or ask prosecutors to submit more evidence. Kocner and two alleged accomplices have pleaded not guilty while the fourth suspect has confessed to the shooting itself, according to public television RTVS, quoting police sources. They face up to life in prison if convicted.

A fifth man has confessed to facilitating the killing and has made a plea deal with prosecutors to act as a witness. Prosecutors said in August they had extracted tens of thousands of messages from Kocner's phone containing communication with "representatives of state bodies and the justice system".

The revelations led to a number of resignations of senior officials, including a deputy parliament speaker, a deputy minister, two prosecutors, and a judge. All denied any connection to the murders. Slovakia's former chief prosecutor was charged this week with abuse of power for hiding recordings from a secret service operation which also involved Kocner.

Mass protests forced Prime Minister Robert Fico to resign last year. He was replaced by a party ally and his Smer party still leads the government, although opposition parties could push it out in an election on Feb. 29.