Special Prosecutor Daniel Lipšic has dropped the charges pressed against ten members of the local council in the village of Varín, Žilina region who were accused of sympathising with a movement aimed at suppressing fundamental rights and freedoms. These council members did not agree that the name ‘Dr. Jozef Tiso Street’ in Varín should be changed. Tiso was the president of the Slovak wartime fascist state in 1939-45.
"Not all abstention takes the form of criminally relevant conduct. An act of omitting something is criminally relevant only if the offender omits to carry out an act that they were obliged to perform given the circumstances of the case," explained Lipšič. He added that it is only possible to show sympathy for a movement proactively and that it is impossible to express such sympathies by a failure to take action. In addition, the special prosecutor remarked that a lack of empathy and ignorance of historical facts alone cannot be considered crimes.
