Orban: I'll Discuss Benes Decrees with Slovak Prime Minister

Budapest, 5 January (TASR) - Ethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia can rely on the Hungarian government to support them in everything and to reject any form of collective guilt, stated Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at an international press conference on Monday in response to a question about his stance on the amendment to the Slovak Penal Code that relates to the so-called Benes Decrees, the TASR correspondent in Budapest has reported. The Hungarian premier said that Budapest is trying to understand this Slovak law, but the situation isn't simple. "There are specific legal cases that will need to be addressed. Once I have a clear view of the matter, I'll speak to the Slovak prime minister [Robert Fico (Smer-SD)]," added Orban. Students from Hungarian universities organised a demonstration in Budapest on Saturday (3 January) evening against the new Slovak law protecting the Benes Decrees. According to the amendment to the Slovak Penal Code, which came into effect at the end of December, anyone who publicly questions the post-war settlement, which deprived thousands of ethnic Hungarians of their property and citizenship, can be sentenced to six months in prison, the index.hu website reported on Friday. Slovak President Peter Pellegrini signed the amendment before Christmas. Among other things, it establishes the crime of questioning the post-war Benes Decrees. It was published on 27 December and took effect immediately. Since its adoption, the law has caused discontent among the ethnic-Hungarian minority in Slovakia and has also drawn harsh criticism from Hungarian political figures, added the website. "It [the act] can't be interpreted from the perspective of Hungarian law. Hungarian law doesn't recognise the concept of 'denial or questioning'. Only in the case of the Holocaust does the concept of denial exist, but that concerns a fact. No one questions the fact that the Benes Decrees exist. There is debate about whether it is good that they exist, whether they should remain in their current form or whether they can be changed," said Orban concerning this issue before the EU summit in December. am/df