(ANSA-AP) - PEZINOK - Four people went on trial in Slovakia on Thursday over the alleged contract killing of an investigative journalist and his fiancee, a crime that shocked the country and led a government to fall. The suspects appearing in court in a town near the capital of Bratislava include a Slovak businessman accused of masterminding the double slaying and the alleged hired assassin. A fifth suspect made an agreement to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for a lower sentence. The deal has to be approved by a judge, and the other suspects said Thursday they weren't interested in striking similar deals They were escorted to the court by heavily armed guards. If convicted of last year's killings of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnir ova, they face potential prison sentences of 25 years or life. Kuciak and Kusnirova were killed in their home on Feb. 21, 2018. Slovak authorities said they believed the killings were linked to Kuciak's work investigating possible widespread government corruption and ties between Slovak politicians and Italian mob sters. The 27-year-old reporter was shot in the chest and Kusnirova wa s shot in the head in the town of Velka Maca, east of Bratislava. (ANSA-AP).