Slovak far-right leader sentenced for sympathy to neo-Nazism

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — An appeals court in Slovakia has dismissed a lower court ruling that convicted the leader of a far-right party for the illegal use of neo-Nazi symbols. But the country’s Supreme Court still found Marian Kotleba guilty of sympathizing with neo-Nazism and gave him a six-month suspended sentence. Kotleba appealed an October 2020 ruling by the Specialized Criminal Court in Pezinok, which sentenced him to four years and four months in prison. Tuesday’s ruling by the country’s Supreme Court is final. Kotleba will lose his parliament seat with the ruling. The People’s Party Our Slovakia, whose members use Nazi salutes and want Slovakia out of the European Union and NATO, was the fourth-most popular party in the country in the 2020 parliamentary election with 8% support.