Slovakia

[Bobby Bandanza]

Two Slovak MPs on Wednesday donned yellow stars symbolising the Holocaust in protest at the "dangerous" parliamentary debut of a far-right party they condemn as "fascist".

The opposition MPs wore the stars to an inaugural session of parliament following the country`s March 5 election in which the Our Slovakia party won 14 seats.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/...y_1868776.html

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Teachers to enrol seminar on teaching about Holocaust

A summer training programme is being prepared for teachers to instruct them on how to tackle the issue of the Holocaust.

Teachers from primary and secondary schools can submit an application for this training programme on teaching about the Holocaust until March 25, the US Embassy to Slovakia informed on its website and also on its Facebook profile. They will be informed about the result by April 15. The initiative involves teachers of history, social science, ethics or other humanities, with excellent knowledge of English.

http://spectator.sme.sk/c/20124865/t...holocaust.html

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Mazurek not prosecuted for Holocaust denial

MP for the far-right Kotleba-People’s Party Our Slovakia (ĽSNS) Milan Mazurek will not be prosecuted for denying the Holocaust on a social network.

An investigator has decided that prosecutors will not press charges against Mazurek who is a member of the parliamentary committee for human rights – for comments written before he became an MP, the aktuality.sk website and the Denník N daily reported on September 7.

“When it comes to the Third Reich, we only know lies and fairy tales about six million and soap made from Jews,” Mazurek wrote in Slovak. “Nothing but lies are taught about Hitler.” His comments were examined by the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Prešov and the General Prosecutor’s (GP) Office who both came to the conclusion that Mazurek’s behaviour did not violate the law, the website wrote.

A police investigator in Prešov originally rejected the matter, claiming that the MP with his comments on the social network did not commit the crime of Holocaust denial. His superior, however, thought that the police investigator made his decision too early and turned to the prosecutors to take a closer look at the case.

Holocaust denial has been a crime in Slovakia since 2001.

Justice Minister Lucia Žitňanská (Most-Híd) does not understand the decision of police and prosecutors to drop the charges against Mazurek for denying the Holocaust. “I cannot understand it,” she said for the TASR newswire, explaining that the Slovak statutes spell out a crime reflected in this action. “This is a phase when it’s no longer a question of legislation, but about how the police, prosecutors and ultimately the courts are able to operate with this legislation.”

http://spectator.sme.sk/c/20266405/m...st-denial.html

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Extremists receive patents, also preventing jokes targeting their party

Marian Kotleba’s the far right party ĽSNS has already won two trademarks; thus, nobody else will be allowed to use them, not even in jest.

These two are verbal but four more, now in the process of being approved by authorities, include the double-cross used by the Nazi-inclined World War II-era Slovak State.

The party received protection for their name and the name of its chairman so from now on, the words and phrases Kotleba – Ľudová strana Naše Slovensko (People’s Party Our Slovakia) will not be allowed to be used by anyone else, not even in verbal jokes and wordplay appearing on T-shirts like

https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20636597/...the-party.html

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Slovan Bratislava vice president fined for Nazi salute

Sep 6, 2019

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — A court in Slovakia has convicted the vice president of soccer club Slovan Bratislava of racism and fined him 5,000 euros ($5,530).

According to prosecutors, Ivan Kmotrik Jr. was caught on camera in May celebrating the victory over MFK Ruzomberok in the final of the Slovak Cup with what appeared to be a Nazi salute.

A court in Banska Bystrica convicted Kmotrik of showing sympathy for a movement aimed at suppressing fundamental rights and freedoms in August but only announced the verdict this week. If Kmotrik doesn’t pay he would face six months in jail.

The verdict can be appealed.

The Slovak soccer association already fined Kmotrik 10,000 euros ($11,000) last May.

Slovan has qualified for the group stage of Europa League and will face Wolverhampton Wanderers, Braga and Besiktas in Group K.

https://www.foxsports.com/soccer/sto...-salute-090619