Supreme Court Definitively Acquits LSNS MP Mizik of Extremism Charges

Bratislava, July 9 (TASR) – A senate of the Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted far-right People’s Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) MP Stanislav Mizik of extremist crimes, thereby confirming a ruling of the Specialised Criminal Court in Pezinok (Bratislava region) from last year and dismissing a special prosecutor’s appeal in this case.

According to the Special Prosecutor’s Office, the MP in January 2017 participated in drafting a text document with offensive content, later published as a Facebook status update in an account called ‘Voice of Gemer/People’s Party Our Slovakia Calling’ and in an account called ‘Kotleba-People’s Party Our Slovakia-Bratislava region’. The MP criticised then president Andrej Kiska’s decision to grant state awards to people of Jewish origin.

“The Supreme Court found at its public session that the Special Prosecutor’s Office appeal is unfounded. A single judge of the Specialised Criminal Court carried out the inquiry correctly and thus evaluated the evidence correctly. The single judge explained that the inquiry didn’t prove that the defendant had committed a crime. The first-degree court ruled correctly when it acquitted the defendant,” reads the senate’s reasoning for its ruling.

According to the head of the senate, the court in Pezinok was correct to rule on July 4, 2018 that law-enforcement authorities didn’t obtain any evidence proving that Mizik took part in writing the offending status at a specific time and place. The status later appeared on LSNS’s facebook page. The senate head said that it can’t be established who was technically responsible for the status.