Slovakia’s former justice minister indicted over Facebook status
Slovakia’s former justice minister, Štefan Harabin, is facing up to three years in prison for writing that he would do exactly what Putin did about the events in Ukraine on social media one day after the invasion started.
Harabin, the former chief justice of Slovakia’s Supreme Court, is facing charges of condoning a crime and defaming a nation based on a social media status he posted on 25 February 2022, the day after Russia invaded Ukraine.
“I am proud of the statement I wrote and would repeat it anytime. It is indisputable that Putin and the Russian Federation acted by international law. He cannot be the aggressor,” said Harabin after learning of the indictment.
In addition to writing that he would do the same thing as Putin, Harabin wrote that it is the “duty of Russians to pacify Nazis”. The prosecutors are classifying this wording as defaming the nation of Ukraine. They also argue that Harabin, a former judge, must have been aware of the meaning of his words.
MP Juraj Šeliga initially filed a complaint against Harabin, alleging that the status constituted a crime of “endangering peace”. The obscure but more severe crime comes with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
The prosecutors ended up charging Harabin with lesser crimes. He was first arrested regarding his social media post in May last year.
Harabin has been a mainstay in Slovakia’s disinformation circles. In addition to his judicial career, Harabin ran for president of Slovakia in 2019. Earning less than 15% of the vote, he still called himself “the clear winner of the election”.
Facebook pulled his page in October 2022 due to breaking the site’s rules. With 140,000 fans, it was one of the most popular pages of a Slovak politician. He remains active on Youtube, Twitter and Telegram.
Harabin announced in February he is planning to run for president again next year. A poll in April showed that only 21% of voters would choose him in a runoff with incumbent president Zuzana Čaputová.
New Prime Minister Ludovit Odor said Slovakia has slept on fighting disinformation. A recent GLOBSEC poll showed that only 40% of Slovaks believe Russia is primarily responsible for invading Ukraine – a drop from the 51% recorded prior year.
(Barbara Zmušková | EURACTIV.sk)
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