The prosecutor’s office accused Kotleba of handing over a financial gift to three families in front of almost four hundred invited guests in 2017 at a high school in Banská Bystrica by means of symbolic checks. Each amounted to 1,488 euros (39,700 crowns).
According to investigators, the numbers 14 and 88 are known and used in extremist symbolism. The gift was handed over on the anniversary of the war-torn Slovak state. The then Slovak Republic, to which ĽSNS subscribes, was connected with Nazi Germany.
“He used neo-Nazi symbolism so as not to leave his supporters in doubt that he was a neo-Nazi and a neo-fascist. It is a deliberate action by the chairman of a political party, “said the prosecutor about the checks that Kotleba handed over.
According to Kotleba, the investigators’ procedure is purposeful
Kotleba, whose party won about eight percent of the vote in the February parliamentary elections, criticized the investigators’ actions in their case during the trial. He claimed that the investigator had purposefully divided the sum of EUR 1488 into two digits, 14 and 88, and that he had not taken into account the currency designation.
According to the Slovak Prosecutor’s Office, the number 14 refers to the number of words in the English sentence of the right-wing terrorist David Lane, which reads: “We must ensure the existence of our people and the future of white children.” , is considered an abbreviated form of the Nazi salute of Heil Hitler.
The summoned expert also testified in court earlier that the number 14 is used in the racist context on the extremist scene and the number 88 is the aforementioned Nazi salute.
Rate from four to eight years in prison
The judge had previously announced that the indictment in Kotleb’s case might be considered under a stricter provision of the Criminal Code than suggested by the prosecutor’s office.
In his closing remarks, the plaintiff favored this possibility and suggested to the court that he impose a sentence in the lower half of the relevant penalty rate on Kotleb for the crime of establishing, supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing fundamental rights and freedoms. She is four to eight years in prison. According to the original indictment, Kotleb was facing up to three years in prison.
– .
