Racist Violence in Slovakia

By Matej Pavlik

Published by the European Network against Racism (ENAR) in Brussels, March 2011, with the support of the Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity - PROGRESS (2007-2013) and the Open Society Foundations. PROGRESS (2007- 2013) is managed by the Directorate-General for Employment, social affairs and equal opportunities of the European Commission. It was established to financially support the implementation of the objectives of the European Union in the employment and social affairs area, as set out in the Social Agenda, and thereby contribute to the achievement of the Lisbon Strategy goals in these fields. For more information see: http://ec.europa.eu/progress. The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Commission. ENAR reserves the right not to be responsible for the accuracy, completeness or quality of the information provided in this report. Liability claims regarding damage caused by the use of any information provided, including any information which is incomplete or incorrect, will therefore be rejected.

An assessment of overall trends and patterns

In general, racist violence and hate crimes are primarily aimed against the Roma community and alternative youth. Racist violence against migrants does not occur in noticeable amounts. This is due to the fact that the Slovak Republic is considered a transit country by migrants rather than their final destination (mainly countries in Western Europe). Thus, migrants and religious minorities are secondary targets of racial violence. However, the number of racist attacks on migrants1 and religiously motivated attacks with an anti-Semitic background2 has increased. Far right movements are the biggest potential source of racist attacks and these organizations are gaining popularity and thus have more members and supporters. The Slovak republic is heavily influenced by trends and developments that take place in western countries most notably in Germany and the Czech Republic. These developments help create the atmosphere under which far right movements can be established into legally and constitutionally valid groups. (For example the Slovensk hnutie obrody (SHO) [the Slovak Renaissance Movement (SRM)], the Slovensk nrodn jednota [the Slovak National Unity (SNU)]), have all been established and publically operate even though their activities at times violates the Slovak Penal Code Other extreme nationalist groups have been established such as the (Nov slobodn Slovensko (NSS) [New Free Slovakia (NFS)], the Slovensk pospolitos (SP) [Slovak Togetherness (ST)]), but are without any official institution. Finally there are the so called autonomous movements (Autonmni nacionalisti (AN) [Autonomous Nationalists (AN), Nrodn odpor (NO) [National Resistance (NR)]) who also have far right aims and objectives. Football hooligans and ultras3 form an independent far right group operating in the Slovak Republic. Many football clubs in the highest Slovak football league are almost exclusively supported by groups with far right ideas (hooligans of Slovan Bratislava, Spartak Trnava, Nitra, Koice, Preov, ilina). However, these radical football supporters do not form a uniform group and are not only composed of neo-Nazis. Other individuals in these groups tend to act apolitically, but they usually support racist behaviour during matches. A comprehensive summary on the development in far right expressions in football is being issued annually since 20074.
1

Slovak News Agency: A racist attacked a British doctor with dark skin complexion, http://aktualne.centrum.sk/domov/zdravie-skolstvo-spolocnost/clanek.phtml?id=1156994 accessed 15 July 2010 and Mikul Jesensk: Racists attacked a female basketball player, http://www.sme.sk/c/3817838/rasistinapadli-basketbalistku.html accessed 15 July 2010. 2 TV JOJ: Sixteen hooligans arrested, seven police officers injured, http://noviny.joj.sk/z-domovabratislavsky-kraj/1610-2008/clanok/sestnast-chuliganov-zatkli-sedem%20policajtov-sa-zranilo.html 3 Ultras are a form of sports team supporters renowned for their fanatical support and elaborate displays. The behavioural tendency of ultras groups includes the use of flares, vocal support in large groups, defiance of the authorities and the display of banners at football stadiums, which are used to create an atmosphere which intimidates opposing players and supporters, as well as encouraging their own team. The actions of ultra fan groups can occasionally be overly extreme and are sometimes influenced by racial violence, political ideologies, cross-town derbies between clubs from the same city, and even from poor performances by the teams. 4 Pavlk, Matej, Ultras 2007 (Bratislava: Enough, People against Racism, 2008) http://www.rasizmus.sk/wpcontent/uploads/2010/02/ULTRAS2007.pdf and People Against Racism, Report on manifestations of racism, antiSemitism, nationalism, neo-Naziism and other types of intolerance on football stadiums (Bratislava: People Against Racism, 2010) http://futbal.rasizmus.sk/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Sprava%20futbal%202008%202009.pdf

During 2008 and 2009, the highest growth has been seen in autonomous leaderless resistance movements, mainly the Autonomous Nationalists. During this period, the AN managed to multiply their membership several times over. (AN Koice, Juhozpad, Sever, etc). Alongside this increase of autonomous movements which has weakened in 2010, right wing groups have attempted to enter mainstream politics. This began in August 2009 when the Slovensk Pospolitos party began organising many protest activities with open anti-Roma Rhetoric. This led to an attempt by Marin Kotleba, the former leader of the Slovak Togetherness, entering municipal politics. After his failure he attempted to register a new political party Nae Slovensko (NS) [Our Slovakia (OS)]. After several administration holdups, several activists around Marian Kotleba entered a registered but idle party Strana priateov vna (SPV-G3000) [Wine Friends Party (WFP-G3000)] and changed its name to udov Strana Nae Slovensko (SNS) [Peoples Party Our Slovakia (PP-OS)]. This new political party carried out a series of anti-Roma protests as a pre-election campaign. Further evidence of a growing racist agenda throughout society has also been the antiRoma campaign of the nationalist Slovensk nrodn strana (SNS) [Slovak National Party (SNP)], a member of the government coalition during the election period 2006 2010. In its campaign, SNP used stereotyping racist motives a digitally altered photo of a man of Roma origin and added tattoos and a large golden chain. The picture was entitled so that we will not have to feed those who do not want to work 5. Racist rhetoric, such as referring to these communities as gypsy parasites has mainly been presented by the PPOS. Official statistics of the Slovak Republic Police Forces Presidium in 2009 shows a decrease of racist crimes from 213 in 2008 to 132 in 2009, i.e. 38.01%. There were 16 recorded cases of violent crimes with a racist motive6. According to representatives of the NGO sector, this statistic does not reflect the reality of racially motivated crimes. Fieldwork carried out by the civic associations People Against Racism and Enough shows a long-term and growing distrust towards state prosecution institutions and even a reluctance to anonymously report attacks with a racist or hate motive to an NGO. This distrust can also be seen amongst the members of the NGO sector and is mainly caused by fear of revenge from the perpetrator or an unjust legal process. Furthermore, migrants and members of the Roma community often lack legal knowledge regarding what options are open to them after an attack as well as their rights and obligations. This often results in the dismissal of the incident. Regarding attacks against antifascists, the there is a general lack of trust towards the police which also leads to underreporting incidents.
5

Kovov, Marina, SNP lures voters on racism, http://volby.sme.sk/c/5360060/sns-laka-volicov-narasizmus. html, accessed 15 July 2010. 6 Danilov, Sergej, Statistics on criminal offences with racist motives, http://danilov.blog.sme.sk/c/221366/Statistikatrestnej-cinnosti-s-rasovym-motivom-2009.html, accessed 15 July 2010.

A new development in the Slovak Republic is the use of hate and racist expressions on the internet. Openly neo-Nazi websites with materials directly connected to the movements only represent the tip of the iceberg. Far right movements use various sophisticated media portals such as websites, blogs and different social networking services. The portfolio includes main stream web sites with an emphasis on patriotism, blogs with conspiracy theories (New World Order, 9/11, etc.), neo-Nazi websites with lifestyle content for far right activists (e.g. NS straight edge, hate core music, NS black bloc, NS street art, etc.) and direct information channels which publicly announce upcoming events in the Slovak Republic and abroad7. This tendency of moving hate-speech from the streets to the internet is also documented by a statement of Irena Bihariov, a lawyer with PAR commenting on the typical profile of a racist for the Slovak News Agency: Instead of a baseball bat, he uses a keyboard and internet. His activity is spreading his ideas on the network, while he often falsely hides his ideas under the concepts of patriotism, and the fight against parasites for decent Slovaks8.

Typical case study

This case is a typical example of an attack by neo-Nazis against a foreigner. Such attacks are most common in Bratislava and Koice, which are the largest cities in the Slovak Republic with the highest number of migrants. The victim was a male aged between 25 and 30 and of dark skin complexion. In the afternoon, he and his girlfriend entered a tram in Bratislava, where he lives with his Slovak partner. The tram was half empty and as he saw a group of neo-Nazis, he sat down and tried not to draw attention to himself. The group however started to shout at him in an abusive manner. The victim decided to get off the tram at the next stop. While he was getting off, one of the neo-Nazis spat on his back and the group got off the tram as well. They stood around the victim, trying to hit him, while the victim managed to hit the mouth of one of the perpetrators in self-defence. A police patrol arrived unusually quickly, before the incident evolved into a fight. The policemen took the identification of the victim and one witness (only one witness agreed). Afterwards the perpetrators were taken to the police station. Further information on this case is not available, as the partner of the victim only provided a brief description of the attack. The victim identified the perpetrators as a group of four men supporters of Slovan Pressburg (USP Ultras Slovan Pressburg, a far right hooligan group). All of them were of white complexion and spoke Slovak. The victim did not suffer any injuries, as the police came immediately. The victim has been informed (through his partner who
7

Aryan Rebel, Genocida v JAR.ak to aj Europu http://aryanrebel.wordpress.com, accessed 15 July 2010 8 Slovak News Agency: Todays racists attack on the internet, rather than with a baseball bat http://www.aktuality.sk/clanok/167621/dnesni-rasisti-namiesto-bejzbalky-utocia-na-internete/ , accessed 15 July 2010

contacted us) that the case is being investigated ex offo and that the victim has the rights of a witness and a victim and even in case the police would not call him to provide a testimony, he has the right to do so and ask for information on any proceedings of the case and propose evidence.

Recommendations
The legislation at present is adequate to combat racist violence but it is not being applied correctly. Furthermore the definitions contained therein are vague and lead to different interpretations. This is compounded by the fact that there are no interpretation materials such as an explanatory note on the legislation (or academic articles). This absence leads to a subjective or a misinterpretation of the provision. Therefore there should be an explanatory note made available and it should be used and applied more often by the relevant authorities. There is no group of experts that could provide quality and professional opinions on each legal case in the area of racially motivated crimes. Furthermore, there is a lack of cooperation between NGOs and state institutions that both have different areas of expertise. Therefore there should be a group of experts established to provide assistance when needed and there should be closer cooperation between NGOs and state institutions. The police should employ an adequate number of professional operatives, who could expertly review violations of the penal code or properly investigate hate/racist motives in violent attacks. Finally, there should me more resources on hand to assist victims of racist violence.

Bibliography
Slovak News Agency, 11 July 2010, PR: Rmom zakazuj najm vstup do retaurcii, http://www.comein.sk/aktuality/39148/LPR:-Romom-zakazuju-najma-vstupdo-restauracii/, accessed 15 July 2010 Slovak News Agency, 25 April 2008; Rasista napadol britskho doktora tmavej pleti http://aktualne.centrum.sk/domov/zdravie-skolstvospolocnost/clanek.phtml?id=1156994, accessed 15 July 2010 and Mikul Jesensk: SME, 9 April 2008, Rasisti napadli basketbalistku http://www.sme.sk/c/3817838/rasistinapadli-basketbalistku.html accessed 15 July 2010. TV JOJ: Sixteen hooligans arrested, seven police officers injured, http://noviny.joj.sk/zdomovabratislavsky-kraj/16-10-2008/clanok/sestnast-chuliganov-zatklisedem%20policajtov-sa-zranilo.html 6

Pavlk, Matej, Ultras 2007 (Bratislava: Enough, People against Racism, 2008) http://www.rasizmus.sk/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/ULTRAS2007.pdf and People Against Racism, Report on manifestations of racism, anti-Semitism, nationalism, neoNaziism and other types of intolerance on football stadiums (Bratislava: People Against Racism, 2010) http://futbal.rasizmus.sk/wpcontent/uploads/2010/05/Sprava%20futbal%202008%202009.pdf Kovov, Marina, SNP lures voters on racism, http://volby.sme.sk/c/5360060/sns-lakavolicov-narasizmus.html, accessed 15 July 2010. Danilov, Sergej, Statistics on criminal offences with racist motives, http://danilov.blog.sme.sk/c/221366/Statistika-trestnej-cinnosti-s-rasovym-motivom2009.html, accessed 15 July 2010. Aryan rebel, http://aryanrebel.wordpress.com, accessed 15 July 2010 Slovak News Agency: Todays racists attack on the internet, rather than with a baseball bat, http://www.aktuality.sk/clanok/167621/dnesni-rasisti-namiesto-bejzbalky-utocia-nainternete/ , accessed 15 July 2010

Annex 1 Recording incidents of racist violence

There are three relevant statistic data sources in the Slovak Republic. The first one is the official statistics of the Ministerstvo Vntra Slovenskej Republiky (MV SR) [Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic (MI SR)], which only addresses proven criminal offences. The second source is the report of the Slovensk nrodn stredisko pre udks prva (SNSP) [Slovak Human Rights Centre (SHRC)], which primarily focuses on discrimination and violent racist motivated crimes. This is done by way of media monitoring (i.e. only gathers all media coverage on this issue). Victims are encouraged to contact the SHRC if they believe they were discriminated against. The third source is the statistics of the People Against Racism, which is the only organistation to address violent crimes with a hate motive. Persons can contact People Against Racism if they are victims of violent attacks. However it is necessary to point out that the only NGO that monitor racist incidents is udia proti rasizmu (PR) [People Against Racism (PAR)]. PAR has been providing free legal aid to victims of racially motivated crimes since 2001.9

Slovak News Agency, 11 July 2010, PR: Rmom zakazuj najm vstup do retaurcii: http://www.comein.sk/aktuality/39148/LPR:-Romom-zakazuju-najma-vstup-do-restauracii/, accessed 15 July 2010.