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Marian Kotleba (; born 7 April 1977) is a
Slovak politician and leader of the
far-right,
neo-Nazi[5 takeaways from Slovakia’s election](_blank)
POLITICO. Author - Benjamin Cunningham. Published 3 June 2016. Last updated 3 July 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2017. political party
Kotlebists – People's Party Our Slovakia ( sk, Kotlebovci – Ľudová strana Naše Slovensko).
He served as the Governor of
Banská Bystrica Region
The Banská Bystrica Region ( sk, Banskobystrický kraj, ; hu, Besztercebányai kerület, ) is one of the eight regions of Slovakia. It is the largest region by area, and has a lower population density than any other region. The Banská Bystric ...
from 2013 to 2017. He was a presidential candidate in the
2019 election, in which he finished fourth.
Early life and education
Born in Banská Bystrica in what was then Czechoslovakia, Kotleba attended the local Jozef Murgas High School. After finishing his education at a Grammar School he enrolled at the
Matej Bel University
Matej Bel University (commonly referred as Matej Bel or UMB), ( sk, Univerzita Mateja Bela) is a public research university in the central Slovak town of Banská Bystrica. The university was established in 1992. It bears the name of Matthias B ...
receiving a
Master's Degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in
Pedagogics
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...
, later he once again enrolled at the Economics faculty at the same university and graduated with a master's degree in Economics.
After studies he taught at the Sports Grammar School ( sk, Športové gymnázium Banská Bystrica) specialising in sports.
Political views
![STOP NATO](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/STOP_NATO.JPG)
Kotleba supports
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 ...
and the
First Slovak Republic
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
, and he is openly against
Roma people
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...
,
Slovak National Uprising
The Slovak National Uprising ( sk, Slovenské národné povstanie, abbreviated SNP) was a military uprising organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. This resistance movement was represented mainly by the members of the ...
,
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
. According to ''
Hospodárske noviny
''Hospodárske noviny'' (abbreviated ''HN''; meaning ''Economic Newspaper'' in English) is a daily economic newspaper published in Slovakia. It is owned by MAFRA Slovakia, a media company based in Bratislava, Slovakia.
History and profile
''Hos ...
'', his position on the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
is unclear. The
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
'' have described him as a
neo-Nazi. Kotleba has promoted the
Zionist Occupation Government
The Zionist occupation government, Zionist occupational government or Zionist-occupied government (ZOG), sometimes also referred to as the Jewish occupational government (JOG), is an antisemitic conspiracy theory claiming Jews secretly contr ...
conspiracy theory and described Jews as "devils in human skin".
Kotleba has received a negative reception from the Slovak and foreign media due to his political views. Outlets such as ''
Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the co ...
'', ''
Denník SME
''SME'' or ''Denník SME'' (in English: ''WE ARE'' Daily) is one of the most widely read mainstream broadsheets in Slovakia. Their website, SME.sk, is one of the most visited Internet portals in Slovakia.
History and profile
''SME'' was founded ...
'', and ''
Aktuality'' have characterized him as "extremist", "fascist", and "neo-Nazi".
Russia and Syria
Kotleba is known for his sympathy towards the Russian Federation and the Syrian Arab Republic, having slogans during presidential campaign in 2019 such as "For Slavic unity, against war with Russia" or declaring on national television that "
Bashar Al-Assad is a hero of the Middle-East". Kotleba also made trips to Syria, having met with Syrian House Speaker and Foreign Minister of Syria. It was revealed upon his departure from Banská Bystrica governorship from the documents found there, that he wanted to send a letter to Russian ambassador, in which he asked for assistance and profoundly wrote about his intention to buy a Russian car. He also spoke critically of American intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Libya, and Syria, once reading all of
United States involvement in regime change
Since the 19th century, the United States government has participated and interfered, both overtly and covertly, in the replacement of several foreign governments. In the latter half of the 19th century, the U.S. government initiated actions for ...
in the
Slovak Parliament.
Political career
In 2003, Kotleba founded the far-right political party
Slovak Togetherness ( sk, Slovenská Pospolitosť). In 2007 the Slovak interior ministry banned the party from running and campaigning in elections, however it still functioned as a civic organisation. In 2009 he ran for the post of Governor of the Banská Bystrica region and received 10% of the votes. In the 2013 local elections he ran again and this time received approximately 20% of the votes, thereby securing a run-off against favourite
Vladimír Maňka
Vladimír Maňka (born 19 September 1959 in Lučenec) is a Slovak politician and Member of the European Parliament (2004–2019) with the Direction, part of the Socialist Group.
In parliament, Maňka sits on the European Parliament's Committee ...
. Kotleba won the run-off by receiving 55% of the votes.
Kotleba's win was described as a "shock" by political analysts, who attributed it to deep
anti-Romani
Anti-Romani sentiment (also antigypsyism, anti-Romanyism, Romaphobia, or Antiziganism) is hostility, prejudice, discrimination or racism which is specifically directed at Romani people (Roma, Sinti, Iberian Kale, Welsh Kale, Finnish Kale, Ho ...
sentiments in the region. Observers originally had said that they saw almost no chance for Kotleba to succeed in the second round against Maňka, but nonetheless found his strong showing "disturbing".
Prior to the
2016 election to the
National Council, he renamed his party Ľudová strana Naše Slovensko (English: People's Party Our Slovakia) to Kotleba – Ľudová strana Naše Slovensko. Despite the polls suggesting the 1.5–3.5% gain of votes, the party rocketed to the parliament with a gain of over 8% of the vote. Despite elements of Neo-Nazism, the post-electoral polls suggest that his success was a result of dissatisfaction with the running of Slovakia and was seen as a protest vote against the ruling
Smer – Sociálna demokracia and the fractured right. It was also linked to the fall of the
Christian Democratic Movement
The Christian Democratic Movement ( sk, Kresťanskodemokratické hnutie, KDH) is a Christian democracy, Christian-democratic List of political parties in Slovakia, political party in Slovakia that is a member of the European People's Party (EPP ...
, the Christian conservative party, and the
European migrant crisis
The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the continent to reques ...
.
He was defeated in the Slovak regional elections of 2017 by an independent candidate,
Ján Lunter
Ján Lunter (born 15 July 1951) is a Slovak entrepreneur, owner of a family food company and, following the November 2017 elections, governor of the Banská Bystrica Region.
Biography
Lunter studied Cybernetics at the School of Electrical Engin ...
.
In the
2020 parliamentary election his
party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...
gained 7.97%, which gave them 17 seats.
On 5 April 2022, Kotleba automatically lost his mandate of MP in the National Council as a consequence of being found guilty of demonstrating sympathy for a movement directed at suppression of fundamental rights and freedoms by the Supreme Court.
€1,488 cheques court case
Kotleba was charged with demonstrating sympathy for a movement directed at suppression of fundamental rights and freedoms by publicly donating
€
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...
1,4 88 cheques to various families. This combination of numbers is alleged to carry a
white supremacist and Neo-Nazi message.
On 12 October 2020, a first-degree court found him guilty of a more serious crime than he was charged with (supporting and propagating a movement whose aim is the repression of human rights and freedoms, and doing so publicly). He was sentenced to four years and four months in a lowest-security prison.
Kotleba appealed against the verdict.
On 5 April 2022, the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic changed the ruling of the first-degree court and found Kotleba guilty of the crime he was originally charged with. He received a suspended sentence of 6 months in prison.
Electoral history
Presidential
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotleba, Marian
1977 births
Living people
People's Party Our Slovakia politicians
Politicians from Banská Bystrica
Antiziganism in Slovakia
Far-right politics in Slovakia
Governors of Banská Bystrica Region
Candidates for President of Slovakia
Matej Bel University alumni
Slovak schoolteachers
Slovak fascists
21st-century Slovak politicians
Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2016-2020
Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2020-present