PS Rejects SNS's Amendment to Criminal Code, Calls It Legalising Extremism

Bratislava, 12 January (TASR) - The opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) rejects a draft amendment to the Criminal Code submitted by a group of MPs from the junior coalition Slovak National Party (SNS), fearing that the state's ability to protect society from extremism and hate speech will be undermined, inter alia, as a result of lowered upper limits on sentences for extremist crimes. In a statement provided by the PS media department on Monday, the party described this as an attempt to legalise extremism in Slovakia. "First, they dismantled special units for combating organised crime in order to rescue themselves and their oligarchs. They crippled the institution of cooperating defendant and lowered sentences for criminals. And, as if that weren't enough, they are now lending a helping hand to neo-Nazis and other extremists," said PS MP and former Police Corps president Jaroslav Spisiak. In addition to lowered maximum sentences for several extremism crimes, certain elements of crime will also be deleted from the law, said PS. "If the law is passed, anything having to with the possession and dissemination of extremist materials isn't going to be a crime any more," said PS MP Irena Bihariova. A group of SNS MPs has submitted a Criminal Code amendment to Parliament, proposing adjustments to penalty ranges for extremist criminal offences. SNS wants to lower the upper limits of sentences for several of them, arguing that penalties need to be set in a more rational and differentiated way. In addition, provisions on the production, distribution and possession of extremist materials would be removed from the Criminal Code entirely. This would eliminate a legally uncertain situation, claimed SNS, insisting that the protection of protected interests under criminal law would remain intact. jrg/df