Ex-Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was arrested by the Slovakian police on Thursday evening in front of the television cameras, faces jail sentence for “incitement to hatred”.
This was confirmed by the police and the Ministry of the Interior in Bratislava on Friday by the state news agency TASR. Fico himself had described the allegations as the “end of democracy in Slovakia” immediately after his release during the night.
His lawyer, the former Interior Minister Robert Kalinak, told the TV broadcaster TA3 that the arrest was a gross violation of the law. Since Fico is a member of parliament, any restriction of his personal freedom of movement requires the approval of parliament, “which of course nobody has obtained”.
As head of the left-wing populist opposition party Direction Social Democracy (Smer-SD), Fico had called for a protest against the government’s corona policy. Immediately before the start, however, the police took the 57-year-old former long-term head of government away when he wanted to start the protest with a statement in front of the media. After being questioned, they released him.
Because of the corona pandemic, a nationwide ban on gatherings has been in effect in Slovakia since November 25. However, Fico had said that the protest he had called did not violate it, because it was planned primarily in the form of a car convoy. The police are being abused by the government, which is using the pandemic as an excuse to restrict freedom of expression. “The whole of Slovakia should watch live how democracy is being destroyed,” he said before getting into the police car that brought him for questioning.