Ján Slota

Ján Slota
Member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic
Slovak National Council until December 31, 1992
In office
July 4, 2006 – April 4, 2012
In office
June 25, 1992 – October 15, 2002
Mayor of the city of Žilina
In office
1990–2006
Preceded by office created
Succeeded by Ivan Harman
Member of the Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia
In office
June 23, 1990 – June 25, 1992
Personal details
Born (1953-09-14) September 14, 1953
Lietavská Lúčka, Czechoslovakia
Political party Slovak National Party

Ján Slota (born 14 September 1953) is the co-founder and former president of the Slovak National Party,[1][2] an extremist[3][4][5][6] nationalist party.[7] Slota as the leader of SNS entered into a coalition with Robert Fico's Smer in 2006. He was the mayor of the city of Žilina from 1990 to 2006.

Youth

Slota had emigrated to Austria in 1971, however, he returned to Slovakia after several days.[8]

Political career

Slota became involved in politics after 1989 when the Communist party fell from power in Czechoslovakia in the Velvet Revolution. In 1990 he co-founded the SNS and was elected as a member of the Federal Assembly. Later, he was elected into the National Council of the Slovak Republic. From 1994 to 1999 he served as the leader of the SNS. After an internal crisis in the SNS in 2001, he left the party and set up his own party, the Genuine Slovak National Party. As a result of this split, none of the nationalist parties received the required 5% minimum of votes in the 2002 election. In 2003, the nationalist parties merged again, after heavy quarrels, with Slota as chairman.[9]

Slota served as the mayor of Žilina between 1990 and 2006. He was reelected in 1994, 1998 and 2002. He was succeeded by Ivan Harman in 2006.

In the 2006 parliamentary election, Slota became an MP and his SNS joined the ruling coalition with Robert Fico's Direction - Social Democracy party and Vladimír Mečiar´s People's Party - Movement for a Democratic Slovakia. After the unsuccessful 2012 parliamentary election, he resigned as the Chairman of the party and became Honorary Chairman.[10]

He was dismissed from the party in April 2013, due to the "inefficient management of the property of the party".[10]

Controversies

Slota is frequently criticized for arrogance, nationalism,[11] and extremism[12] and being "a xenophobic politician who has stirred anti-Hungarian sentiments."[13] The Slovak Spectator reports that most of the media attention Slota receives is because of statements that cross "the line not just of political but also human decency."[14] Slota says he is protecting Slovaks, especially those living in southern Slovakia. He famously remarked at a rally that "we will get into our tanks and level Budapest, if [the Hungarian minority] attempt to teach us the Lord's Prayer in Hungarian ever again." It's also worth noting that this statement had a grammar error in Slovak (incorrect case).[2] After this statement, a map was published on the official SNS webpage showing Hungary as a part of Slovakia.[15][16][17] He also said about Hungarians that "Even in 1248 a Frankish bishop was amazed after visiting the Carpathian Basin that God could have given such a beautiful country to such ugly people. He was referring to the old Hungarians, who were Mongoloid types with crooked legs and even more disgusting horses. Somehow these people have vanished. Who civilized them? Probably us, the Slovaks".[2] He believes 200 members of the Hungarian intelligence are spying in Slovakia.[18] Slota said that the country's ethnic Hungarian minority "is a tumour in the body of the Slovak nation."[19][20] While Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány and his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico were meeting in Brussels, he called the Turul, a Hungarian mythological falcon an "ugly parrot",[21] and insulted the first Hungarian king (Stephen I of Hungary) by calling him a "clown on a horse" (he was referring to the statue of king Stephen I which is standing in the Buda Castle).

Slota called the fascist leader Jozef Tiso "one of the greatest sons of the Slovak nation"[22] and on February 17, 2000, 40 of the 41 city council members in Žilina, where Slota was mayor, voted to dedicate a plaque honoring Tiso.[22] According to Der Spiegel Slota said the best policy for dealing with the Roma was "a long whip in a small yard."[1][2] According to him: "70 percent of the Roma are criminals."[23] He has also questioned whether homosexuals are normal people,[24] and associated them with pedophiles.[25]

Nováky Power Plant incident

In 1982 Slota worked in the Nováky Power Plant, where during the demolition of a wooden cooling tower he gave the order to burn it down. The flames reached 70 meters and the wind blew the cinders as far away as 500 meters.[26] Slota was convicted of threatening public safety and sentenced to one year conditionally.[27]

Court cases

Documents detailing Slota's alleged criminal past were published by Markíza, the leading private television station in Slovakia, which resulted in a court case Markíza v Slota.[28][29][30] Slota has been involved in another court case regarding his alleged criminal past with the newspaper SME. Her lost the case with Markíza TV,[31] however, he won the case involving SME.[32]

During the court proceedings Slota said he was proud of assaulting and beating a Hungarian saying "I am proud of giving that Hungarian a black eye" (Slovak: Na to, že som tomu Maďarovi urobil monokel, som tiež hrdý.)[33][34][35]

Tabloid claims

Slota supposedly reported a total yearly income of 311 400 SKK[36] (about €10,000 or US$14,000) in his 2006 annual tax return, however he himself supposedly confirmed that he had bought a Bentley Continental GT[37][38] for 2.6 million SKK in that year.[37] In his ATR he also supposedly confessed that he has a luxury villa[37] on the Croatian riviera[37] as well as a Porsche Cayenne Turbo S[39] "lent to him by one of his friends for his personal use".[39]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Hungarian Human Rights Foundation New Slovak Government Embraces Ultra-Nationalists, Excludes Hungarian Coalition Party
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Chaos, Corruption and Extremism – Political Crises Abound in Eastern Europe". Der Spiegel. May 29, 2007. Retrieved April 20, 2008.
  3. ↑ P. Ramet, Sabrina (1997). Whose democracy?: nationalism, religion, and the doctrine of collective rights in post-1989 Eastern Europe. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 128. ISBN 9780847683246. ...Meciar established his 1994 coalition government with the extreme-nacionalist Slovak National Party (SNS, led by Ján Slota, mayor of Zilina...
  4. ↑ Cas Mudde (2005). Racist extremism in Central and Eastern Europe. Routledge. p. 314. ISBN 9780415355933. Retrieved 2009-05-22.
  5. ↑ Zoltan D. Barany (2002). The East European gypsies: regime change, marginality, and ethnopolitics. Cambridge University Press. p. 408. ISBN 9780521009102. Retrieved 2009-05-22.
  6. ↑ Juliana Sokolova (2 – 04 – 2009). "Slovakia: in search of normal". openDemocracy.net. Retrieved May 22, 2009. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ↑ "The Steven Roth Institute: Country reports. Antisemitism and racism in Slovakia". Tau.ac.il. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Slota emigroval z ČSSR a zase se vrátil". Lidové noviny (in Czech). lidovky.cz. 9 January 2008. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  9. ↑ Ján Slota :: Oficiálna stránka
  10. 1 2 Vilček, Ivan (24 April 2013). "Slotu vyloučili ze strany kvůli špatnému zacházení s majetkem" (in Czech). novinky.cz. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  11. ↑ "Forgive and forget?". The Slovak Spectator. February 11, 2008. Retrieved August 6, 2008.
  12. ↑ Lukáš Fila. "Prezidentská kampaň Slovakia warns of worsening relations after Gyurcsany resignation". Spectator.sk. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  13. ↑
  14. ↑ "The journalist's dilemma: how to report Ján Slota". The Slovak Spectator. October 13, 2008. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
  15. ↑ "Törölték Magyarországot Slota pártjának térképéről". Origo.hu. January 31, 1999. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  16. ↑ "Slotáék törölték Európa térképéről Magyarországot". Hvg.hu. January 1, 1970. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  17. ↑ Letörölték Európa térképéről Magyarországot Slotáék Archived October 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  18. ↑ "Budapestet lerombolná Slota". Figyelő (in Hungarian). June 29, 2006. Retrieved August 6, 2008.
  19. ↑ "Separatist Movements Seek Inspiration in Kosovo". Der Spiegel. February 22, 2008. Retrieved August 6, 2008.
  20. ↑ One offence leads to another
  21. ↑ "Slota ridicules Hungarians during PMs' meeting". Slovak Spectator. September 3, 2008. Retrieved September 18, 2008.
  22. 1 2 New Slovak Government Embraces Ultra-Nationalists, Excludes Hungarian Coalition Party HRF Alert: On the Fascist Jozef Tiso... (The Slovak Spectator, February 28 – March 5, 2000)
  23. ↑ Cas Mudde (2005). Racist extremism in Central and Eastern Europe. Routledge. p. 214. ISBN 978-0-415-35593-3.
  24. ↑ ÚJ SZÓ online
  25. ↑ ÚJ SZÓ online
  26. ↑ Slota pred 26 rokmi zapríčinil obrovský požiar, webnoviny.sk, April 16, 2008
  27. ↑ "Slota pred 26 rokmi zapríčinil obrovský požiar" (in Slovak). SME.sk. 16 April 2008. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  28. ↑ "Jan Slota büszke rá, hogy megvert egy magyart". Index.hu. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  29. ↑ "Markíza vyhrala súd so Slotom, ktorý od nej žiadal 65 000 eur". Robert Hüttner. spravy.pravda.sk. 16. júla 2009 18:00. Retrieved July 29, 2009. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  30. ↑ gART WEBDESIGN STUDIO s.r.o. (www.pixel.sk). "Bumm.sk". Bumm.sk. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  31. ↑ "Markíza vyhrala súd so Slotom" (in Slovak). SME.sk. 30 April 2010. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  32. ↑ "Slota vysúdil od Sme 10 000 eur" (in Slovak). pravda.sk. 9 July 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  33. ↑ "Slota megvert egy magyart". Fn.hu. June 23, 2009. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  34. ↑ "transindex.ro Transindex". Vilag.transindex.ro. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  35. ↑ "SME". Zilina.sme.sk. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  36. ↑ Doplatil na chvastanie?, Plus Jeden Den, July 17, 2007
  37. 1 2 3 4 Už si užíva, Plus Jeden Den, May 28, 2007
  38. ↑ "Érdekes szlovák állami autók – Négy karikát pörgetni propellerrel jó csillagzat alatt". Totalcar (in Hungarian). January 31, 2008. Retrieved April 20, 2008.
  39. 1 2 Slota vymenil auto, Plus Jeden Den, February 23, 2007

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