Milan Mazurek (born 24 January 1994) is a Slovak MP for
People's Party Our Slovakia
People's Party Our Slovakia ( sk, Ľudová strana naše Slovensko, ĽSNS) is a far-right neo-Nazi political party in Slovakia. The party claims to derive its origin from the legacy of Ľudovít Štúr, Andrej Hlinka and Jozef Tiso.
Position ...
(ĽSNS;
Marian Kotleba
Marian Kotleba (; born 7 April 1977) is a Slovak politician and leader of the far-right, neo-Nazidefamation of race based on his
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 ...
statements, and became the first Slovak parliamentarian to lose his seat because of a crime. However, he was reelected in the
2020 Slovak parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 29 February 2020 to elect all 150 members of the National Council.
The anti-corruption list led by Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) movement emerged as the largest parliam ...
Mazurek worked as the deputy to Kotleba MP Andrej Medvecký, and took over his mandate after Medvecký's subsequent resignation (a week after the
2016 Slovak parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 5 March 2016 to elect the 150 members of the National Council. The ruling left-wing populist Direction – Social Democracy (SMER–SD) party remained the strongest party, but lost its majority. Th ...
) for having been charged with a racist assault of a Dominican citizen. At this time Mazurek attracted media attention for shouting vulgar insults at an Arab family at an anti-Islam rally and for praising Adolf Hitler on social media. He was investigated by prosecutors for other posts denying the Holocaust, which is a crime in Slovakia.
In an October 2016 speech on , Mazurek said "The Gypsy anti-socials have never done anything for the nation and never will," comparing children of Romani ethnicity to "animals in the zoo".
Conviction and removal from office
In 2018, the Specialised Criminal Court convicted him under Article § 423 of the Penal Code, which prohibits "defamation of the nation, race, and belief", and fined him 5,000 euros. Mazurek appealed to the
Supreme Court of Slovakia
The Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic is the highest juridical authority in the Slovakia and is based in Bratislava. It was established on 1 January 1993, following the division of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. ...
, which ruled on the case in September 2019 and upheld the sentence, increasing the fine to 10,000 euros. He paid the fine, making him eligible to run in the 2020 election.
Following the Supreme Court's verdict, former prime minister
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) ...
recorded a Facebook video in which he said, "Milan Mazurek said what almost the whole nation thinks and if you execute someone for truth, you make him a national hero". Fico is now being investigated for promoting racism. ĽSNS put up many billboards stating "Milan Mazurek, fired from parliament for expressing an opinion".
As a result of his conviction, Mazurek lost his seat in parliament in September 2019 due to the
Constitution of Slovakia
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princip ...
, becoming the first Slovak MP to lose his seat due to a crime. He was eligible for two months' severance pay and was immediately hired as a parliamentary secretary for ĽSNS, earning 2,700 euros per month. After he lost his seat in parliament he was replaced by Milan Špánik, who is an independent regional politician who won his seat with Kotleba support.
Re-election
In February 2020, Mazurek was involved in an incident where counter-protestors against a ĽSNS meeting in Nižná na Orave were physically attacked. Mazurek was re-elected in the
2020 Slovak parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 29 February 2020 to elect all 150 members of the National Council.
The anti-corruption list led by Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) movement emerged as the largest parliam ...
. He was nominated for "Homophobe of the Year" in 2020 by and Rainbow Slovakia for denying the existence of
transgender people
This list consists of many notable people who are transgender. The individual listings note the subject's nationality and main occupation.
In some non-Western, ancient or medieval societies, transgender people may be seen as a different gend ...
.
He refuses to wear a mask during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
due to a false belief that it would cause
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...
poisoning, which led to his being thrown out of a bank in
Poprad
Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the t ...
. In July 2020, he faced calls for his resignation after falsely claiming that the perpetrator of the was of
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnicities
* Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia
** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule
* Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...