Blogger Benčík receives 2017 European Citizen's Prize for Slovakia

Slovak blogger and civil activist Ján Benčík, who was awarded the 2017 European Citizen's Prize for Slovakia granted by the European Parliament last month, picked up his award at the European Information Centre in Bratislava on Monday. Benčík is the fifth Slovak laureate in the ten-year history of the award. Speaking at the ceremony, the pensioner from Ružomberok (Žilina region) stated that it was everybody's duty to overcome differences in opinion and to keep Slovakia a member state of the European Union. Benčík has for several years been monitoring the behaviour of Slovak neo-Nazis, extremists, conspirators and mercenaries fighting in Ukraine on social networks. "I'm trying to contribute in my modest way to this by publishing blogs showing the true face of people who don't respect the democratic values on which the European Union stands and who would rather see our republic out of the Union," said Benčík in his acceptance speech.