Woman Who Made Threats Against Muslims Taken Into Custody

Banska Bystrica, February 19 (TASR) – A Specialised Criminal Court judge in Banska Bystrica has partially accommodated the request by the Special Prosecutor’s Office to take a 24-year-old woman identified as Sheila Sz. of Ruzomberok (Zilina region) into custody, TASR learnt on Sunday.

However, the judge allowed it only based on reasons for preventive custody – i.e. to prevent the accused from engaging in criminal activities. The prosecutor had also proposed measures to prevent the accused from fleeing, which were turned down by the court. Both the prosecutor and defendant filed an appeal against the decision, which is due to be determined by the Supreme Court.

Sheila has been charged since February 16 and if found guilty will face three to six years in jail. According to police, she participated in a video released on the internet. “In the video, she displays a book titled as The Quran. She is seen ripping pages out of the book and throwing them to the ground. She uses one of the pages to wipe her bottom, subsequently urinating on the torn apart book and setting it on fire,” said the Police Corps Presidium spokesperson Denisa Baloghova.

In the video, Sheila declares: “In no way will anyone stop me from releasing my videos, photographs or written statements regarding Islam. Simply put, I stand behind my statements, they [Muslims] are parasites who are worse than scabies. If they can’t integrate into our society, then they have no business being here.” Sheila also pledged in the video to hunt down every Muslim in Slovakia.