THE EXTREMISM PARADOX

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRATISLAVA 000368

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CE J. MOORE; DRL FOR S. CORKE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 8/21/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL LO
SUBJECT: THE EXTREMISM PARADOX

REF: 08 BRATISLAVA 524, 08 BRATISLAVA 567, 08 BRATISLAVA 580, 09 BRATISLAVA 353. 09 BRATISLAVA 182

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CLASSIFIED BY: Susan M. Ball, A/DCM.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (C) Summary: Extremism is on the rise in Slovakia, and the
Government's ability and willingness to combat it, despite a
newly-passed extremism amendment to the Penal code, remains an
open question. While the amendment supposedly strengthens the
government's hand, many experts believe it is a superficial
measure crafted mainly to demonstrate that Slovakia is better
able to deal with the problem than Hungary. The high-profile
blunders (or worse) in the cases of Daniel Tupy, Hedviga
Malinova (reftel a),and Slovenska Pospolitost raise disturbing
questions. We are also concerned by the fact that the GOS
repeatedly tries to place the blame for the growing problem
elsewhere, as DPM Caplovic did recently, pointing to Hungary.
End Summary.



Stronger Hand




2. (C) The Slovak parliament passed an amendment to the penal
code which toughens penalties for extremism in April 2009.
President Gasparovic vetoed the bill in May, saying that the
definition of extremism is ambiguous and inaccurate. Human
Rights NGOs agreed with Gasparovic, although they noted his
opposition to the bill was likely motivated by a desire to
protect his nationalist friends (several Slovak National Party
(SNS) MPs opposed the bill) rather than human rights concerns
(reftel b). In June, the Parliament was able to override the
presidential veto, and the amendment will enter into force on
September 1 without President Gasparovic's signature.



Incompetence? Daniel Tupy Case




3. (SBU) Daniel Tupy, a Comenius University student, was
murdered in November 2005 in Bratislava. Allegedly, a group of
extremists attacked him because he had long hair. In June 2009,
the three prime suspects in the case were released because the
Bratislava District Court determined there was insufficient
evidence against them. The suspects allegedly have strong ties
to the Bratislava mafia, and after their release gave multiple
triumphant interviews to the press. The prosecution's "crown
witness," who is currently in the witness protection program,
reversed his statement against the accused at the last minute.
In response to the Court's decision, Interior Minister Kalinak
said that "the murder has been clarified. The current task is to
prove the guilt of the offenders." Kalinak also publicly stated
that the investigation has advanced, and that the police have
new information which will be used in an appeal. Kalinak
assured the public that the police are able to ensure the
protection of witnesses, and appealed to those who were in fear
to come forward. According to a recent poll conducted by the
Institute for Public Affairs (IVO),over two-thirds of the
Slovak public is worried about the developments in this case.



Unwillingness? Hedviga Malinova Case




4. (C) The perjury case against Hedviga Malinova (reftel c),the
ethnic Hungarian student allegedly attacked by skinheads in
August 2006 in Nitra, remains pending. The Prosecutor General,
Dobroslav Trnka, ordered an analysis of Malinova's complete
medical file over a year ago. Malinova's lawyer, Roman Kvasnica,
and her psychologist, Jozef Hasto, told us that the medical
evidence of an assault is compelling, and contains many reports
from witnesses on the day of the attack which support Malinova's
story, as well as a few questionable reports from "witnesses"
that came forward months later.




5. (C) Although the final medical opinion has still not been
completed, Peter Labas, the dean of the medical faculty at
Comenius University, told the press on July 15, "It is possible
that no one but me will sign the expert opinion," implying that
the rest medical team is at odds with the final report. Labas
also stated that doctors at the Nitra hospital had been
pressured by the now-deceased director to support Malinova's
claims. The doctors have denied any pressure and stand by their
assessment. In a meeting on August 16, Trnka told us (again)
that the case with be "terminated in a fair and proper way"
despite the fact that the media have "exerted such pressure that
the doctors are scared." Trnka went on to say that while the

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media portray Malinova as the victim of a hate crime, she now
enjoys a nice normal life. Trnka also claimed erroneously that
the case would have been solved sooner if we had provided
American technical assistance in the form of satellite coverage
of the alleged attack. Malinova supporters continue to believe
that PM Fico's and Interior Minister Kalinak's public statements
condemning her as a liar in September 2006, just weeks after the
attack, are the primary impediment to justice, as the government
is unwilling to admit its misstatements.



Competition? Slovenska Pospolitost




6. (C) The Ministry of Interior disbanded the far-right
organization Slovenska Pospolitost (Slovak Fellowship) on
November 12, 2008, in an abbreviated procedure, just days before
PM Fico met with Hungarian counterpart then-PM Gyurcsany on
November 17 (reftel b). On July 1, the Slovak Supreme Court
ruled that the Interior Ministry's decision was unlawful, and
that the legal conditions for disbanding the organization had
not been met. On August 8, Slovenska Pospolitost held a
anti-Roma rally in the Eastern Slovak town of Sarisske Michalany
(reftel d) and has continued to campaign against "gypsy terror"
ever since. On August 13, Minister of Interior Kalinak told us
that he himself made the decision to disband the organization,
and that he had not consulted with the bureaucracy. Kalinak
also said that he would immediately deploy police to 200 of the
most worrisome Roma settlements throughout Slovakia to diffuse
tensions in the wake of Slovenska Pospolitost's most recent
activities, and that the Ministry will again try to ban
Pospolitost within the legal framework.




7. (SBU) The head of Slovenska Pospolitost, Marian Kotleba, has
criticized PM Fico for "spending millions of euros on the Roma,
but not requiring them to respect the law in return." Kotleba
also criticized SNS Chairman Slota's "failure to sufficiently
protect the Slovak nation" and on August 20, announced the
formation of a nationalist political party called "New
Slovakia." Political analyst Miroslav Kusy predicts that if the
newly created party begins to draw voters away from the more
mainstream parties, those parties will then radicalize to keep
their voters.



"Extremism is an Import from Neighbors"




8. (C) As he told our Charge a few months earlier (reftel e),
Deputy Prime Minister Caplovic has repeatedly been quoted in the
press saying "this extremist activity is prepared and imported
from abroad." While there were a few Czech and Hungarian
participants in the August 8 Sarisske Michalany rally, Slovenska
Pospolitost is undoubtedly a Slovak organization. Furthermore,
an anti-Roma cause entitled "I do not want 200 million Euro
going to the Roma" on Facebook has over 40,000 members, and is
bringing together moderate and extremist Slovaks alike.
Ironically, in a joint statement from PM Fico, President
Gasparovic, and Speaker of Parliament Paska, the top
constitutional leaders of Slovakia abdicate any responsibility
for potential extremist action or agitation during the
controversial "private" visit of Hungarian President Solyom to
Slovakia August 21. (Solyom is visiting the town of Komarno for
the unveiling of a statue of King Stephen I; the date coincides
with the anniversary of the Warsaw Pact invasion of
Czechoslovakia in 1968, in which Hungarian forces took part.)



Comment




9. (C) Thankfully, we have not seen the tragic uptick in
ethnically motivated violence that has occurred elsewhere in the
region, but we have noticed an increased tolerance for and
prevalence of extremist rhetoric of late. We believe the
setbacks in the Tupy and Malinova cases are emblematic of the
government's lack of political will and capacity to combat
extremism, and are disturbed that the shoddy disbanding of
Slovenska Pospolitost last November, and subsequent overruling
of that decision by the Supreme Court this summer, have further
emboldened its operation. It will be telling to see how the
broadly-formulated extremism provisions of the new penal code
amendment are applied after September 1, given the heightened

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anti-Roma sentiment we have witnessed from ordinary Slovaks over
the past months. As SME editorialist Peter Morvay commented,
"there is a fundamental difference between those announcing a
campaign against extremists because they consider their ideas
and goals absolutely unacceptable and those who have a problem
with extremists primarily because they view them as competitors
promoting the opinions and goals similar to their own."
Unfortunately, we view the latter to be the case with at least
some in the current government. End Comment.
KEDDINS