Slovakia / Specialized Criminal Court/1T/24/2020

Country

Slovakia

Title

Slovakia / Specialized Criminal Court/1T/24/2020

View full Case

Year

2020

Decision/ruling/judgment date

Thursday, August 06, 2020

Incident(s) concerned/related

Other forms of hate speech

Related Bias motivation

Race/Ethnicity
Religion

Groups affected

Muslims

Court/Body type

National Court

Court/Body

Sepcialized Criminal Court

Key facts of the case

The perpetrator repeatedly published and shared on Facebook information against migrants, islamic religion and Muslims. The information published by the perptrator containd incitement to hatred and violence. By this decision, the Specialized Criminal Court approved the agreement between the prosecutor and the accused on the punishment.

Main reasoning/argumentation

The court considered the case as crime of spreading extremist materials (according to Article 422b of the Criminal Code).

Is the case related to the application of the Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia, the Racial Equality Directive?

Key issues (concepts, interpretations) clarified by the case

The case did not bring any new clarifications or interpretations.

Results (sanctions, outcome) and key consequences or implications of the case

The accused was sentenced to 2 years in prison with probation of 3 years.

Key quotation in original language and its unofficial translation into English with reference details

"Obvinený (...) je vinný, že z bližšie nezisteného miesta, pravdepodobne z N., verejne účinným spôsobom - za použitia počítačovej siete na portáli Facebook s profilom „E. Z. E.", s nezistenými elektronickými prostriedkami rozširoval od 18.07.2013 extrémistické materiály - fotografie a písomné vyjadrenia, na ktorých boli zobrazené znaky a nápisy s nacistickou a neonacistickou symbolikou, odkazy na zvukové nahrávky neonacistickej hudobnej produkcie, nenávistné prejavy proti Slovákom, Slovenskej republike, Židom a islamskému náboženskému vierovyznaniu, a následne po dlhšiu dobu do 18.12.2019 ich ponechal pre svojich priateľov, ako aj pre iné osoby uverejnené, teda ich uvedeným spôsobom ďalej rozširoval."

"The accused (...) has been found guilty of the fact that he disseminated from an unidentified place, probably from N., in a publicly effective way - using a computer network on the Facebook portal with the profile" E. Z. E. ", with undetected electronic means from 18.07.2013 extremist materials - photographs and written statements on which they were displayed emblems and inscriptions with Nazi and neo-Nazi symbolism, references to sound recordings of neo-Nazi music production, hate speech against Slovaks, the Slovak Republic, Jews and the Islamic religion, and subsequently for a long time until 18.12.2019 kept them for his friends and others published, thus further disseminating them in that way."

DISCLAIMERThe information presented here is collected under contract by the FRA's research network FRANET. The information and views contained do not necessarily reflect the views or the official position of the FRA.