Marian Kotleba in the courtroom (source: TASR)
Marian Kotleba, head of far-right People’s Party Our Slovakia (ĽSNS) was found guilty of supporting and propagating sympathies towards movements oppressing fundamental human rights.
He gave cheques worth €1,488 to three families on March 14, 2017. The number, experts on extremism believe, consists of two neo-Nazi symbols: the number 14, which stands for the supremacy of the white race, refers to the number of words in a sentence attributed to American racist David Lane. 88 stands for a Nazi salute.
Judge Ružena Sabová, who was also a member of the senate in the case of the murder of Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová, sentenced Kotleba to four years and four months in prison with the lowest security level. The verdict is not valid yet; both Kotleba and prosecutor may appeal.
