THE SLOVAK Parliament has adopted the bill recognising controversial politician and priest Andrej Hlinka for his role in forming the Slovak nation and state, the SITA newswire wrote.
Ninety-four MPs out of the 134 present voted for the law on October 26. The bill was drawn up by the co-ruling Slovak National Party (SNS).
All Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) MPs and six Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) MPs voted against it.
The law was approved in a reduced form. The text that was adopted no longer calls Hlinka "the father of the nation", nor can anybody be prosecuted for "besmirching his name".
The approved version says that Hlinka contributed more than anyone else to the emergence of the Slovak nation and the Slovak Republic in 1993.
Hlinka was the founder and leader of the Slovak People's Party (ŠLS), which pushed for more autonomy for Slovakia within the Czechoslovak state between the world wars. When Hlinka died in 1938, the party was taken over by Jozef Tiso, another priest who helped Germany turn Slovakia into a Nazi puppet state under his leadership from 1939 to 1945.
5. Nov 2007 at 0:00 | From press reports
