Štefan Harabin (born 4 May 1957) is a former Slovak

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

and politician. He served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Slovakia for two terms (1998–2003 and 2009–2014) and Minister of Justice from 2006 to 2009. In 2019 and 2024 he ran unsuccessfully for President of Slovakia.

Judicial and political career

Harabin graduated from the Faculty of Law, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University Košice. He started his judicial career as a probationary judge at the

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

regional court in 1980. Three years later, he became a professional judge at the

Poprad Poprad (; ; ) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatras, High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. The largest town of the Spiš region and the largest of all towns in the vic ...

district court. Harabin was a member of the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...

until the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

of 1989. After the revolution, he continued to practice as a judge at the Košice regional court, until he was elected to the Supreme Court of Slovakia in 1991. From 1998 to 2003, he was the chief justice of the Supreme Court and, in addition, president of the Judicial Council of Slovakia created in 2001. He served as

minister of justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

and deputy prime minister in

Robert Fico Robert Fico (; born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician who has served as the prime minister of Slovakia since 2023. He previously served as prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018. He founded the left-wing political party D ...

's first cabinet from 4 July 2006 to 23 June 2009. He was nominated by the right-wing

People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia The Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (, HZDS), later known as the People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (, ĽS–HZDS), was a populist political party in Slovakia. The party is commonly considered as having been authoritarian ...

(ĽS-HZDS), but was not formally a member of that party. Subsequently, he returned to his post of chief justice, serving until June 2014.

2019 Slovak presidential campaign

Harabin ran as a non-partisan candidate in the 2019 Slovak presidential election. While nominally independent, he was endorsed by the extraparliamentary ''Christian Democracy – Life and Prosperity'' party. He ran on a platform of "traditional Slovak culture based on Christianity and family, formed by a man–father and woman–mother" and rejecting " gender ideology". During the campaign he accused Muslim migrants of "killing and raping European women in Germany and France" and claimed his opponents wanted to destroy Slovak culture. He also condemned

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

institutions as well as homosexuals. Harabin finished third, winning 14.3% of votes.

2024 Slovak presidential campaign

Harabin ran as a candidate in the 2024 Slovak presidential election. Harabin stated that if he become the Slovak president, his first international journey would be to Russia, instead of the traditional visit to neighbour the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, because of their support for "

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

" Ukraine in the 2022 Russian invasion. He again finished third, getting 11,7% of votes (turnout: 51.9%).

Arrest

On 16 May 2022, Harabin was arrested by the Slovak police in connection to "approval of Russia's attack on Ukraine".

References

External links

*http://www.sme.sk/c/4877475/harabin-hrozi-vydavatelom.html *http://tvnoviny.sk/spravy/domace/sudcovia-ziadaju-aby-us-zrusil-volbu-harabina.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Harabin, Stefan 1957 births Living people People from Kežmarok District Eastern Orthodox Christians from Slovakia Communist Party of Czechoslovakia members People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia politicians Homeland (Slovak political party) politicians Deputy prime ministers of Slovakia Justice ministers of Slovakia Candidates for President of Slovakia Slovak judges 20th-century Slovak lawyers