Nauzal and the 5:59 podcast reopen the murder case that shocked Zlín 12 years ago. In the six-part podcast series Slopné: Who is the murderer? reporters Adéla Jelínková and Christine Havranová reveal new connections that fundamentally change the view of the murder itself and the investigation and open up questions about the functioning of the Czech justice system.
You can listen to the first part of the series here:
Exceptional punishments were imposed for the brutal beating of pensioner Miroslav Sedlář. The court sent a pair of young men behind bars for 20 years. Maroš Straňák and David Šimon claim that they are innocent even after 11 years spent in prison.
In the first part of the podcast series, the reporters went to the scene of the crime – that is, to the village of Slopné. They were at the house where the murder had once taken place, looked at the field where one of the main pieces of evidence was found and went through the police file with its rich photographic documentation.
The investigation into the murder in September 2011 was complicated from the beginning, as retired criminalist Pavel Kucík recalls. “It was all the more difficult with Slopný because the search took place after several days,” the investigator alludes to the fact that the family claimed that their relative died after falling down the stairs and did not call the police at all.
Instead, they began cleaning the house, and by the time the police got to the scene, many clues had been irretrievably destroyed. “It’s an interesting case for a criminologist who comes and has a crime scene in the trash,” former Zlín investigator Kucík told reporters.
Photo: Police of the Czech Republic, Nauzal
Slopné podcast series: Who is the killer?
Photo: List of News
New Investigative Series News and Podcast List 5:59
Reporter Adéla Jelínková and photographer Christine Havranová searched for more than a year for the circumstances of the murder, which took place in 2011 in the village of Slopné in the Zlín region. The court sent two young men to prison for the brutal beating of an elderly man, who, even after eleven years behind bars, still maintain that they are innocent. Both received exceptional sentences of over twenty years.
The authors of the podcast spoke with the investigators of the case, with the convicts Maroš Straňák and David Šimon, as well as witnesses. Above all, however, they come up with new evidence and refute some of the original testimonies – which fundamentally changes the view of the murder case in Slopné as it was presented by criminal investigators, prosecutors or the courts.
In addition, the story brings chilling details about the Czech justice system in detail. Are the real criminals really serving time for murder in prison?
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