Slovakia:
Police arrest neo-Nazis in Nitra, investigative delays to be reviewed
Nitra, Slovakia, 29.1.2014 17:52, (ROMEA)
The flag of the Slovak Republic. Photo:
Archiv Romea.cz
News server SME.sk reports that yesterday
evening, police in Nitra finally arrested five neo-Nazis whose brutal assault
on the defenseless customers of the Mariatchi student bar was captured by
municipal police cameras last year. The video footage of the brutal assault was
made public and media began to report on the case, apparently speeding up the
police investigation.
"We have jailed them and we will
probably request they be remanded into custody," Police President Tibor
Gašpar told the daily SME. Police will probably also be arresting three
perpetrators of another, similar attack.
The assault last October was not the only
conflict started by neo-Nazis at the Mariatchi. Right-wing extremists have
opened up a business across the street called Walhala (Valhalla), which is
licensed as a members-only card club.
Members of the club gather there on
Saturdays. Radovan Richtárik, owner of the Mariatchi, says there have been
times when the neo-Nazis have caused problems on a weekly basis, making
threats, kicking in doors, and smashing windows.
The attacks against the bar are not random,
as the neo-Nazis are aware that Richtárik is an activist with the People
against Racism (Lidé proti rasismu) initiative. Students in particular are
regular customers there - "People with dreadlocks come here, which also
bothers [the neo-Nazis]," Richtárik has said.
The identities of the perpetrators of the
October attack were known to the police in the immediate aftermath of the
incident, but police have been incapable of filing charges against them until
now. Rioting has continued ever since, and Gašpar said yesterday that he will
be investigating whether police have been neglecting their investigations of
these incidents.
Banská Bystrica Regional Governor Marian
Kotleba has not made a statement about the investigation yet. The assailants
are connected to his political party.
Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák
(Smer) also did not want to comment on the situation yesterday, saying he is
not in the habit of intervening in the work of the police. "I can only say
what I have always said, which is that we have zero tolerance for such
cases," the minister stated.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico would
also not provide a more concrete statement. The National Security Committee of
the Slovak Parliament will be investigating the scandal.
News server SME.sk has also reported that
the attackers are linked to people working in Kotleba's LS-NS party. Kotleba,
however, is staying silent.
"I don't know what you're talking
about," said Miroslav Belička, spokesperson for the Banská Bystrica
Region, when asked about the connection between the neo-Nazis and the
governor's party. The Slovak press agency MVK has reported that Kotleba's party
has recently enjoyed so much support from Slovak voters (7.6 % of the vote
according to public opinion polls) that it stands of chance of getting into
parliament for the first time ever.
Doctors
say injuries were life-threatening
News server SME.sk reports that police have
given several different versions of why their investigations into the repeated
neo-Nazi assaults have proceeded so slowly. Yesterday Gašpar said the police
had to wait for expert testimony before bringing charges against the
suspects.
Gašpar said the victims' injuries had been
assessed by doctors as requiring seven days or less of treatment, which does
not meet the definition of grievous bodily harm. On Monday, however, local
police in Nitra confirmed reports that the injuries of some of the victims had
required as much as six weeks of treatment.
The victims of the brutal assaults have
also confirmed the seriousness of their injuries. Peter Kováč, a lawyer and a
physician, has even admitted that the attack could have been fatal.
"This was an assault which could have
killed the victims if things had taken a turn for the worse," Kováč, who
has seen the video footage of the attack, said of its possible consequences.
The repercussions of such violence need not be solely physical, but can also be
psychological.
Police
immediately apprehended, then released the perpetrators
The incident in October was captured by a
municipal police camera in such detail that it was possible to see the faces of
the assailants and determine their identities. "The worker on duty
immediately dispatched patrols who were on the scene just after the incident
began. They arrested the perpetrators and took them to the station," Mayor
of Nitra Jozef Dvonč (Smer) says.
The mayor says the investigation then
became a state police matter. However, despite the number of attacks committed
by the right-wing extremists, the town hall does not consider them particularly
dangerous.
"We will increase patrols in the town
center," Dvonč says. "We will also be making use of all the forces
available to us to eliminate such phenomena."
Will
it end with the broken leg?
Gašpar claims the leadership of the police
in Nitra have his complete trust. Police are conducting two independent
criminal investigations, one into the October assault and one into an assault
on New Year's Day.
There are five suspects involved in the October
case and three involved in the New Year's one, but the attackers are different
in both incidents. Police officers do not have video footage of the New Year's
incident, as it took place elsewhere.
"The identification proceeded such
that we had determined their specific identities by 21 January," news
server SME.sk quotes Gašpar as saying. Richtárik's leg was broken in that
incident and he had to undergo an operation.
The Attorney General's office has also
begun to take in interest in the investigations, and Deputy Attorney General
Peter Šufliarský has instructed the prosecutor's office in Nitra to report to
him on the state of the criminal proceedings. "On the basis of that
report, a decision about further legal measures will be taken," spokesperson
Andrea Predajňová said.
voj, SME.sk, translated by Gwendolyn Albert
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