Supreme Court Sentences Marian Magat to Four Years in Prison for Extremism

Bratislava, January 21 (TASR) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday handed down a four-year prison sentence to Marian Magat for extremism-related crimes. Magat will serve the sentence in a prison with a minimum level of security. The court also ordered the seizure of his property. The Supreme Court overturned the first-instance court's verdict, via which Magat was sentenced to six years in prison for extremism. The verdict is final and valid. The Specialised Criminal Court in Pezinok (Bratislava region) last October found Marian Magat guilty of 21 extremism-related crimes. Both prosecutor and defendant appealed against the verdict. According to the indictment, Magat committed the crimes between 2017-2021. He was detained in 2022. The crimes mainly concerned founding, supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing fundamental rights and freedoms, the production and dissemination of extremist materials, denying the Holocaust and crimes against humanity. Magat unsuccessfully ran in the 2016 general election on the slate of the far-right People's Party Our Slovakia (LSNS). He is notorious for praising Adolf Hitler in 2013 as a "peacemaker, excellent economist, orator and a person whose heart was in the right place". ko/df