The Specialised Criminal Court has dismissed the lawsuit against Marian Kotleba, leader of the far-right ĽSNS party, which concerned publicly displaying sympathy for a movement suppressing fundamental rights and freedoms.
A judge returned the case to the Special Prosecutor’s Office, after determining that the punishment could be stricter. Moreover, the judge lacked some evidence necessary for the verdict to be issued, the court spokesperson Katarína Kudjaková confirmed for TASR.
In July, prosecutor pressed charges against the ĽSNS chairman for giving three families a financial gift via cheques, each amounting to €1,488. The number 1488 is notoriously used as a symbol by extremists, as the number 14 signifies 14 words by far-right terrorist David Lane, who claimed: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children”, whereas 88 stands for an abbreviated Nazi salute of "Heil Hitler" (H is the 8th letter in the alphabet).
The prosecutor of the Special Prosecutors Office filed a complaint against the court’s decision, and so the case will be dealt with by the Supreme Court, TASR summed up.
