Slovensko

Slovakia has 41 Romani mayors - 39 male and two female - a record high

13.11.2018 15:13  full story

Slovakia: Two-day meeting of V4 presidents was to cover Romani community issues, among other matters

15.10.2018 11:47 On 11 October a two-day meeting began in the High Tatras of Slovakia between the presidents of four Central European countries comprising the so-called Visegrád Four (V4). The traditional summit between the presidents of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia was hosted by Slovak President Andrej Kiska, whose country is now presiding over the V4.  full story

Slovakia now has an MP from the Romani minority, Štefan Vavrek

19.9.2018 9:14 Wire services report that Slovakia's unicameral legislature has just seated a new MP. After MP Edita Pfundtnerová (Most-Híd) relinquished her seat in order to become a state secretary at the Justice Ministry, Romani community member Štefan Vavrek has now replaced her.  full story

Slovakia: Two Romani children shot in Poprad, perpetrator not yet identified

16.5.2018 18:47 Slovak news server TVnoviny.sk reports that two children have ended up in hospital in Poprad, Slovakia after being shot last weekend. Police say a still-unidentified perpetrator fired an air pistol at them on the street in the Matejovec quarter of Poprad.  full story

Slovak appeals court says video of police abuse of Romani children must be admitted into evidence

7.5.2018 7:17 A Slovak appeals court has overturned a second first-instance court verdict acquitting all 10 current and former police officers last year of abusing Romani children at a police station in the east of the country. Their humiliation of the children happened in 2009 and was recorded by them using their mobile phones.  full story

Slovakia: Police arrest Romani candidate, his daughter insists he is innocent

21.10.2017 8:20 On Friday, 13 October, hundreds of members of Slovakia's National Financial Police Unit, the National Crime Agency, and other police forces intervened against people in the regions of Banská Bystrica, Bratislava, Košice and Prešov. "Officers involved in Operation SHARK are seaching houses and other places in more than 40 buildings with the aim of documenting serious economic criminal activity," the police posted to their Facebook profile.

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Amnesty International: We demand justice for the victims of the Slovak Police raid on the Roma settlement of Moldava nad Bodvou

19.9.2017 12:11 Amnesty International (AI) finds the approach taken by the authorities toward investigating charges of police violence from 2013 in the Romani community living on Budulovská Street in Moldava nad Bodvou, Slovakia to be unjust. AI believes the authorities' handling of this case has violated binding international treaties on human rights.
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Slovak Police charge four eyewitnesses to raid on Romani settlement with making false accusations

12.9.2017 7:48 Slovak newspaper Denník N reported on 7 September that the Slovak Police are pressing charges of making false accusations against the men who alleged that officers beat them up during a raid on a Romani settlement in eastern Slovakia four years ago. The officers were initially charged themselves with trespassing and abusing the power of a public official through the indiscriminate use of force bordering on repression.  full story

Slovakia: Roma denied entry to swimming pool, staff invents various pretexts to keep them out

10.8.2017 7:47 Slovak media are reporting that staff at the municipal pool in the town of Moldava nad Bodvou have refused to allow several Romani people to enter the facility, alleging at one time that they needed to provide a medical confirmation of their state of health. Other Romani swimmers were not allowed entry for other reasons.  full story

videoSlovakia: Romani residents of Zborov tell Romea.cz that police beat children, pregnant women, threatened retribution if video released

12.6.2017 8:16 News server Romea.cz has visited the settlement of Zborov, Slovakia to investigate how police officers there performed a recent intervention against its Romani residents. On 16 April, officers were filmed using their batons to assault young children and others there.
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Slovak Prosecutor-General files motion to dissolve Kotleba's party

1.6.2017 13:19 The Slovak Prosecutor-General has filed a motion with the court to dissolve the ultra-right Kotleba-Lidová strana Naše Slovensko (Kotleba-People's Party Our Slovakia,
or LSNS). The party is currently seated in Parliament.  full story

Stano Daniel: Slovak Roma have to let themselves be beaten up now, otherwise the fascists will be elected

30.5.2017 8:00 Among Romani people in Slovakia the feeling is prevailing that the biggest threat to their future is the fascist party chaired by Marian Kotleba. It is quite possible to agree with their sentiment.  full story

videoSlovakia: Attorney for abused boys says acquittal of police officers was illegal

20.5.2017 10:48 Vanda Durbáková, an attorney working with the Center for Civil and Human Rights in Slovakia, considers the recent acquittal of the police officers who abused Romani boys at a police station and were captured on film doing so to be illegal. "The District Court has just reiterated its decision of February 2015," the attorney said.  full story

Second acquittal from Slovak lower court for police officers filmed abusing Romani children at police station

18.5.2017 14:16 News server Novinky.cz reported yesterday that the District Court in Košice has again acquitted the police officers suspected of abusing Romani boys in March 2009 at a police station there. The lower court has simply reiterated its verdict from 2015, which was overturned by the Regional Court last year after the prosecutor appealed.  full story

Slovak Ambassador at Romani genocide commemoration: Honoring the memory of victims of racial hatred is important for all countries

18.5.2017 13:19 Peter Weiss, the Slovak Ambassador to the Czech Republic, attended the traditional commemorative ceremony honoring the memory of the Romani victims of the Holocaust at
Lety which was held this year on Saturday, 13 May. On this occasion he gave a speech in which he summarized the important historical events that accompanied the victims' persecution at the time.  full story

Slovakia: Sale of salon to hairdresser underway until landlord, neighbors see he is Romani

7.4.2017 8:38 Dalibor Ferenc, a 22-year-old hairdresser, was recently offered an opportunity to buy a hair salon business in a small town in the Žilina Region of Slovakia by the salon's current tenant, who has to retire because of ill health. All appeared to be hopeful - Mr Ferenc agreed with the current tenant of the salon that he would buy all the equipment from her, and according to the tenant, the building owner had nothing against the change.  full story

Slovak neo-Nazi and MP Milan Mazurek prosecuted for racist remarks about Roma

21.3.2017 7:10 Slovak media report that police officers from the National Criminal Agency (NAKA) in Slovakia have begun criminal proceedings against Slovak MP Milan Mazurek (Kotleba-ĽSNS) over his abusive remarks about Romani people made during an interview with the Frontinus radio station in Žilina. Mazurek is accused of making generalizing remarks about all Romani people which the moderator also did nothing to correct.  full story

Slovakia: Criminal charges filed against play about neo-Nazi arson attack in Czech Republic

18.2.2017 7:58 The Slovak National Theater (SND) has produced a play for students about the 2009 arson attack committed in Vítkov, Opava district, Czech Republic as an example of extremism, but after seeing the performance at a high school this month, its critics have reported it to the police for the suspected crime of defamation on the basis of nationality, political convictions or race. SND has responded by saying those who reported the play to police are attempting to intimidate teachers into not inviting the theater to schools.  full story

Slovakia: Black model in ad sparks racist commentary

11.2.2017 18:26 A hate campaign on social media has been sparked by an advertisement by a Slovak firm selling sports clothing in which a dark-skinned man is featured. The business has stood up for the black model.  full story

Slovakia: More than 50 children from socially deprived families institutionalized since year began

19.1.2017 8:49 Since the beginning of this year audits have been underway of the living conditions in socially vulnerable families in Slovakia during the persistently cold weather, with social workers visiting thousands of families around the country and institutionalizing 56 children as of 17 January. "The consequence of our visits is that we discovered cases in which we had to remove the children. In some cases, our colleagues had to call ambulances for them," said the head of the Slovak Headquarters for Labor, Social Affairs and the Family, Marián Valentovič.
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