LAST OCTOBER a group of skinhead youths brutally attacked customers in front of the Mariatchi Bar in downtown Nitra, a popular student hangout, and broke the leg of the bar’s owner.
Though the attack was recorded via the town’s street cameras and the attackers’ faces are visible, the police have waited until now to charge the perpetrators, the Sme daily wrote in its January 28 issue.
October’s attack was not the only such incident to have occurred at Mariatchi. On New Year’s Eve, customers were attacked by neo-Nazis from Walhala, a neighbouring club. Though it is officially listed as a “private card-playing club”, it is a pub whose clientele regularly gets drunk and misbehaves, owner of Mariatchi Bar Radovan Richtárik told Sme.
Walhala's Facebook page is administered by four men, three of whom ran in the parliamentary election for the party of current Banská Bystrica regional governor, Marian Kotleba. When addressed by Sme, the public relations department of Banská Bystrica Region refused to answer, claiming that the governor’s private contacts with citizens are not subject to public interest, according to the law on free access to information.
The police are still investigating the attacks, said Nitra regional police spokesperson Renáta Čuháková, adding that they will soon close the investigation of October's attack. If found guilty of rioting and causing bodily harm, the youths could get up to two years in prison, Sme wrote.
The police do not suspect the attackers of extremism, since during the attack they were not brandishing symbols or making gestures associated with extremism, as reported by Sme.
Source: Sme
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
