Ján Slota (born 14 September 1953) is the co-founder and former president of the

Slovak National Party The Slovak National Party ( sk, Slovenská národná strana, SNS) is a nationalist political party in Slovakia. The party characterizes itself as a nationalist party based on both social and the European Christian values. Since 1990 SNS has won ...

,Hungarian Human Rights Foundation
New Slovak Government Embraces Ultra-Nationalists, Excludes Hungarian Coalition Party an extremist nationalist party. Slota as the leader of SNS entered into a coalition with

Robert Fico Robert Fico (; born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician who served as the prime minister of Slovakia from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018 (when he resigned). He has been the first leader of the Direction – Social Democracy (SMER-SD) ...

's Smer in 2006. He was the mayor of the city of

Žilina Žilina (; hu, Zsolna, ; german: Sillein, or ; pl, Żylina , names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of Sl ...

from 1990 to 2006.

Youth

Slota had emigrated to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

in 1971, however, he returned to Slovakia after several days.

Political career

Slota became involved in politics after 1989 when the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

fell from power in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

. In 1990 he co-founded the SNS and was elected as a member of the Federal Assembly. Later, he was elected into the

National Council of the Slovak Republic The National Council of the Slovak Republic ( sk, Národná rada Slovenskej republiky), abbreviated to ''NR SR'', is the national parliament of Slovakia. It is unicameral and consists of 150 members, who are elected by universal suffrage under ...

. From 1994 to 1999 he served as the leader of the SNS. After an internal crisis in the SNS in 2001, he left the party and set up his own party, the Genuine Slovak National Party. As a result of this split, none of the nationalist parties received the required 5% minimum of votes in the 2002 election. In 2003, the nationalist parties merged again, after heavy quarrels, with Slota as chairman. Slota served as the mayor of

between 1990 and 2006. He was reelected in 1994, 1998 and 2002. He was succeeded by Ivan Harman in 2006. In the 2006 parliamentary election, Slota became an MP and his SNS joined the ruling coalition with

Direction - Social Democracy Direction may refer to: *Relative direction, for instance left, right, forward, backwards, up, and down ** Anatomical terms of location for those used in anatomy ** List of ship directions * Cardinal direction Mathematics and science * Directi ...

party and

Vladimír Mečiar Vladimír Mečiar (; born 26 July 1942) is a Slovak politician who served as the prime minister of Slovakia three times, from 1990 to 1991, from 1992 to 1994 and from 1994 to 1998. He was the leader of the People's Party - Movement for a Democr ...

People's Party - Movement for a Democratic Slovakia People's, branded as ''People's Viennaline'' until May 2018, and legally ''Altenrhein Luftfahrt GmbH'', is an Austrian airline headquartered in Vienna. It operates scheduled and charter passenger flights mainly from its base at St. Gallen-Alten ...

. After the unsuccessful 2012 parliamentary election, he resigned as the Chairman of the party and became Honorary Chairman. He was dismissed from the party in April 2013, due to the "inefficient management of the property of the party".

Controversies

Statements

Slota is known for his controversial statements, which have been described as "racist" and "extreme". According to ''

The Slovak Spectator ''The Slovak Spectator'' (or in abbreviated form ''Slovak Spectator'') is Slovakia's English-language newspaper. History and profile The debut issue of ''The Slovak Spectator'' hit newsstands across Slovakia on 1 March, 1995. The newspaper was ...

'', some of Slota's statements cross "the line not just of political but also human decency." Slota says he is protecting Slovaks, especially those living in southern Slovakia. He remarked at a rally that "we will get into our tanks and level

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, if he Hungarian minorityattempt to teach us the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

in Hungarian ever again." After this statement, a map was published on the official SNS webpage showing Hungary as a part of Slovakia. He also said about Hungarians that "Even in 1248 a

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

bishop was amazed after visiting the

Carpathian Basin The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense, with only th ...

that God could have given such a beautiful country to such ugly people. He was referring to the old Hungarians, who were

Mongoloid Mongoloid () is an obsolete racial grouping of various peoples indigenous to large parts of Asia, the Americas, and some regions in Europe and Oceania. The term is derived from a now-disproven theory of biological race. In the past, other terms ...

types with crooked legs and even more disgusting horses. Somehow these people have vanished. Who civilized them? Probably us, the Slovaks". He believes 200 members of the Hungarian intelligence are spying in Slovakia. Slota said that "Hungarians are a tumor on the Slovak nation that needs to be immediately removed". Slota called the fascist leader

Jozef Tiso Jozef Gašpar Tiso (; hu, Tiszó József; 13 October 1887 – 18 April 1947) was a Slovak politician and Roman Catholic priest who served as president of the Slovak Republic, a client state of Nazi Germany during World War II, from 1939 to 194 ...

"one of the greatest sons of the Slovak nation" and, on 17 February 2000, 40 of the 41 city council members in Žilina, where Slota was mayor, voted to dedicate a plaque honoring Tiso.New Slovak Government Embraces Ultra-Nationalists, Excludes Hungarian Coalition Party
HRF Alert: On the Fascist Jozef Tiso... (The Slovak Spectator, February 28 – March 5, 2000) After World War II, Tiso was sentenced to death for his role in the murder of tens of thousands of Slovak Jews during the Holocaust. Slota told the Czech newspaper ''

Lidové noviny ''Lidové noviny'' (''People's News'', or ''The People's Newspaper'', ) is a daily newspaper published in Prague, the Czech Republic. It is the oldest Czech daily still in print, and a newspaper of record.expulsion of Germans Expulsion or expelled may refer to: General * Deportation * Ejection (sports) * Eviction * Exile * Expeller pressing * Expulsion (education) * Expulsion from the United States Congress * Extradition * Forced migration * Ostracism * Person ...

after World War II, implying that the same should have been done to the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. Fico refused to condemn these comments, and as a result his party, Smer-SD, was expelled from the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a social democratic and progressive European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus Norway and the United Kingdom ...

. Slota asserts that the best policy for dealing with the Roma is "a long whip in a small yard" and that "70 percent of the Roma are criminals". He has also questioned whether homosexuals are normal people, and associated them with

pedophiles Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...

. In 2006, some of Slota's controversial comments were reportedly circulated to

Members of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Commu ...

in a mass e-mail and were published, and criticized, by international media.

Nováky Power Plant incident

In 1982 Slota worked in the

Nováky Power Plant The lignite fired Nováky Power Plant is located in Zemianske Kostoľany near the Novácke uhoľné bane coal mines in the District of Prievidza, Slovakia. In addition to electricity generation and supply, Nováky Power Plant provides for hot wa ...

, where during the demolition of a wooden

cooling tower A cooling tower is a device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a coolant stream, usually a water stream to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and ...

he gave the order to burn it down. The flames reached 70 meters and the wind blew the cinders as far away as 500 meters.Slota pred 26 rokmi zapríčinil obrovský požiar
webnoviny.sk, April 16, 2008 Slota was convicted of threatening public safety and sentenced to one year conditionally.

Court cases

Documents detailing Slota's alleged criminal past were published by

Markíza Markíza (also known as Televízia Markíza) is a Slovak television channel launched on August 31, 1996. The channel was founded by a later politician Pavol Rusko, and is now part of the Central European Media Enterprises (CME). It also operat ...

, the leading private television station in Slovakia, which resulted in a court case ''Markíza v Slota''. Slota has been involved in another court case regarding his alleged criminal past with the newspaper

SME SME may refer to: Economics * Small and medium-sized enterprises * Socialist market economy, an economic system of China Organizations Music * SME Limited, UK audio turntable manufacturer * Sony Music Entertainment, US * Spontaneous Music Ensembl ...

. He lost the case with Markíza TV, however, he won the case involving SME. During the court proceedings Slota said he was proud of assaulting and beating a Hungarian saying "Despite that I gave that Hungarian a

black eye A periorbital hematoma, commonly called a black eye or a shiner (associated with boxing or stick sports such as hockey), is bruising around the eye commonly due to an injury to the face rather than to the eye. The name refers to the dark-colo ...

, I'm also proud." ( sk, Na to, že som tomu Maďarovi urobil monokel, som tiež hrdý.)

Tabloid claims

Slota supposedly reported a total yearly income of 311 400 SKK (about €10,000 or US$14,000) in his 2006 annual tax return, however he himself supposedly confirmed that he had bought a

Bentley Continental GT The Bentley Continental GT is a grand tourer manufactured and marketed by British automaker Bentley Motors since 2003. It was the first car released by Bentley under Volkswagen AG management, after the company's acquisition in 1998, and the fir ...

for 2.6 million SKK in that year.Už si užíva
Plus Jeden Den, May 28, 2007 In his ATR he also supposedly confessed that he has a luxury

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

on the

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n riviera as well as a Porsche Cayenne Turbo SSlota vymenil auto
Plus Jeden Den, February 23, 2007 "lent to him by one of his friends for his personal use".

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slota, Jan 1953 births Living people People from Žilina District Slovak National Party politicians Anti-Hungarian sentiment in Slovakia Antiziganism in Slovakia Candidates for President of Slovakia Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 1992-1994 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 1994-1998 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 1998-2002 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2006-2010 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2010-2012