Slovak Interior Ministry establishes special anti-extremism team

Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak has recently established a new special team that will continue the investigation of the murder of 21-year-old student Daniel Tupy in Bratislava in 2005 of which neo-Nazis are suspected, Interior Ministry spokesman Erik Tomas told CTK today.

Police have not found the perpetrator of the murder that stirred up public indignation.

Many other violent neo-Nazi attacks have occurred in Slovakia since then. However, according to the People against Racism non-governmental organisation, only part of the cases have been registered by the police.

The activists say that Slovak police insufficiently fight against extremism, but the Interior Ministry has rejected the criticism.
Tomas said that the new team had taken Tupy’s case over from the Bratislava police presidium and he expected new developments in the case.

"It will be necessary to collect more evidence," he said.

Tupy and his friends were probably attacked by a group of extremists.

"There are several versions but we still insist that the attack by extremists is the most probable one," Tomas said.
Speculations appeared in the media a year ago that Tupy was killed by criminal elements.

"We are not pessimistic regarding the investigation of the case but the circumstances under which the murder was committed complicate the investigators’ work," he said.

Last year, 188 racially- and ethnically-motivated crimes and other hate crimes were registered by the Slovak police, compared to 121 in 2005 and 72 in the first half of this year.

Last year, 107 crimes were cleared up, compared to 82 cases cleared in 2005.

People against Racism spokeswoman Marcela Pilouskova told CTK that not all Slovaks have enough courage to report attacks against them to the police.

Pilouskova said.

"We do not understand the non-governmental organisations’ criticism. The Interior Ministry is active and the police are performing their duties," Tomas said.

Since September, Minister Kalinak has established a new group that will deal with suppression of extremist demonstrations, he said.

The group comprises representatives of non-governmental organisations and other ministries, as well as representatives of the General Prosecutor’s office, he said.

This autumn, the Interior Ministry also intends to fill the new post of the coordinator and adviser for extremism problems and to submit a bill on the fight against extremism and terrorism to the parliament, Tomas said.