An investigator from the National Crime Agency (NAKA) has pressed charges against governing Smer-SD chair Robert F. in connection with the statements he made following the conviction of former far right MP Milan Mazurek for his statements on Roma, the police reported on a social network on Thursday. The NAKA investigator has charged the ex-premier for three crimes - for defaming a race, nation and belief, for incitement to national, racial and ethnic hatred and for the endorsement of a crime.
"Despite the fact that the Supreme Court ruled that the extremist statements by Milan Mazurek were a crime and convicted him for them, Fico publicly endorsed them, spreading his position through social networks," reads the police's post. In the event of his final conviction, the Smer-SD chairman can be sentenced for one to five years.
"I won't comment on the decision to prosecute Smer-SD chairman Robert Fico", said Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD), adding that the decisions by the prosecutor's office and the police must be respected. Smer-SD MPs consider the charges pressed against their party chief Robert Fico to be an attack against their party.
Mazurek was found guilty of making disparaging remarks against the Roma, broadcast by Radio Frontinus in October 2016. As a result of the Supreme Court's final verdict, Mazurek lost his seat in Parliament. Reacting to Mazurek's conviction for his racist statements against the Roma minority, Fico posted a video on a social network, in which he said that Mazurek had said what almost the whole nation thinks. Fico also added that law-enforcement authorities often take action under pressure from the media, rather than based on actual evidence.
