Slovak MP says the Holocaust is a "fairy tale and a lie", police will not prosecute

Milan Mazurek, an MP for Kotleba’s People’s Party Our Slovakia (ĽSNS) and chair of the party’s regional club in Prešov, will not be prosecuted for saying that the Holocaust is a “fairy tale and a lie”. “I am not advocating for any regime, but we only know fairy tales and lies about the Third Reich, and six million, and soap made from Jews. What we are taught about Hitler is all lies,” Mazurek posted to his Facebook profile.

The remark was first investigated by police in Prešov on the suspicion that Mazurek had committed the felony of denying and approving of the Holocaust and the crimes of political regimes, but the detective refused to seek his prosecution. That conclusion was subsequently upheld by the Regional Prosecutor in Prešov and by the Slovak Prosecutor-General.

All of them arrived at the same opinion, which is that Mazurek cannot be prosecuted. “Their opinion is that the procedure of the investigator and the decision were correct and lawful,” Marián Spišák, spokesperson for the Regional Prosecutor, was quoted as saying by the SITA agency.

Slovak Justice Minister Lucia Žitňanská (Most – Híd) has also expressed an opinion of the decisions. “I am unable to understand this. I am convinced that this behavior meets the legal definition of this crime,” news server webnoviny.sk quoted her as saying.

The minister said that at this phase her concern is not about the legislation itself, but about how prosecutors, police and the courts manage to work with it. Mazurek, an admirer of Adolf Hitler, openly espouses neo-Nazism and actively organizes anti-Muslim demonstrations.

Last year, after a demonstration against immigrants in Bratisalav, Mazurek was captured on camera shouted vulgarities at an Arab family, including children, who were then protected by police officers after other extremists began to throw rocks at them. He took office after another ĽSNS candidate who was elected had to step down because he was under indictment for having beaten up a dark-skinned foreigner in 2014.