Stricter measures against extremism approved by MPs

Slovakia should be able to deal with extremism and racism more effectively, with Parliament approving an amendment to relevant legislation by 98 votes on Tuesday. The amendment is part of a legislative package that transposes a number of legally binding EU directives into Slovakia's legal system. Justice Minister Lucia Žitňanská (Most-Hid) expects the changes to enable more effective investigations into extremism-related crimes. She pointed out that statistical data indicated a drop in extremist crimes from 112 in 2012 to 30 in 2015, but this is sometimes interpreted as a failure in the fight against extremism. Žitňanská is convinced that the drop is the result of an inability to uncover such criminal activities, which have often been transferred to the internet, thereby making prosecution more difficult. Žitňanská also feels that judges specialised in this agenda are lacking. The amendment also introduces new classifications of racially motivated hate crimes and specifications of what constitutes extremist material. It also introduces the crime of apartheid, defined by the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as inhumane acts of a character similar to other crimes against humanity "committed in the context of an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime".