Slovakia / Specialized Criminal Court/3T/16/2020 ECLI:SK:SSPK:2020:9520100124.2

Country

Slovakia

Title

Slovakia / Specialized Criminal Court/3T/16/2020 ECLI:SK:SSPK:2020:9520100124.2

View full Case

Year

2020

Decision/ruling/judgment date

Wednesday, July 08, 2020

Incident(s) concerned/related

Other forms of hate speech

Related Bias motivation

Race/Ethnicity

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 posts, videos and other information sympathizing with the Nazi regime and information expressing hatred against Jews, migrants (including Muslims). 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) and crime of expression of sympathy for the movement suppressing fundamental rights and freedoms (Article 422 (1) 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 2 years.

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

"Obvinený (...) je vinný, že na sociálnej sieti webovej stránky www.facebook.com na svojom verejne prístupnom profile pod menom „W. O.", ktorý v danom čase užíval, zverejňoval a sprístupňoval extrémistické materiály svojim priateľom aj iným osobám (...) 1. sprístupňoval a rozširoval extrémistické materiály a spáchal taký čin verejne, 2. verejne, najmä používaním hesiel, prejavoval sympatie k ideológii, ktorá smeruje a v minulosti smerovala k potlačeniu základných práv a slobôd osôb a ktorá hlása rasovú, etnickú nenávisť"

„The accused (...) has been found guilty of the fact that on the social network of the website www.facebook.com on his publicly accessible profile under the name "W. O. ", which he used at that time, he published and made available extremist materials to his friends and others (...) and thus 1. made extremist materials available, disseminated them and have committed such an act in public, 2. in public, especially through the use of slogans, he expressed sympathy for the ideology that in the past, was aimed at suppressing the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals and which proclaimed racial, ethnic hatred“

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