Almost half of cases of extremism occur in cyberspace

In Slovakia extremism is to a great extent shifting into cyberspace, as almost half of the 65 reported cases last year were detected in this area, such as on social networks, according to the Report on the Fight against Extremism in 2011-2014. The Interior Ministry has indicated a drop in this type of criminal activity, however. In half of cases the crime of supporting and promoting groups aimed at suppressing fundamental rights and freedoms was involved. "This mostly involved derogatory, vulgar and provocative declarations towards people who were different based on nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation", states the report. In 17 of these cases a specific person was charged. All the accused were men. In two cases charges were set aside due to the fact that the accused were minors and thus not criminally liable. In the Prešov region the report recorded two cases of vulgar behaviour with armed threats aimed at members of the Roma community. A similar case was registered in the Žilina region, where Roma were subjected to obscene behaviour and threatened with an airgun.