The Director of the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) Museum in Banská Bystrica, Stanislav Mičev announced that he has not invited the regional governor Marian Kotleba to attend the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the SNP on August 29.
The event marks the day when a group of officers of the Slovak army, assisted by partisans, attempted to take control of the country which was a Nazi puppet state led by a Catholic priest at that time. The attempt failed two months later.
Kotleba, the leader of a far-right extremist movement, has repeatedly described the event as a predominantly Communist-led uprising against one's own state. “It doesn't matter a fig to me whether it's in line with the protocol or not. I won't invite a fascist to celebrate an anti-fascist uprising - I view it as absurd and disgusting. This means that if Marian Kotleba will have the stomach to come here to look in the eyes of SNP's participants, he may come - but only as a private person”, said Mičev, adding that if the Government orders him to invite Kotleba - which he doesn't expect to be the case - he personally would not attend the event. Marian Kotleba did not comment on this issue.
