Ján Slota

Youth

Slota had emigrated to Austria in 1971, however, he returned to Slovakia after several days.

Political career

Slota became involved in politics after 1989 when the Communist party fell from power in Czechoslovakia in the Velvet Revolution. In 1990 he co-founded the SNS and was elected as a member of the Federal Assembly. Later, he was elected into the National Council of the Slovak Republic. From 1994 to 1999 he served as the leader of the SNS. After an internal crisis in the SNS in 2001, he left the party and set up his own party, the Genuine Slovak National Party. As a result of this split, none of the nationalist parties received the required 5% minimum of votes in the 2002 election. In 2003, the nationalist parties merged again, after heavy quarrels, with Slota as chairman.

Slota served as the mayor of Žilina between 1990 and 2006. He was reelected in 1994, 1998 and 2002. He was succeeded by Ivan Harman in 2006.

In the 2006 parliamentary election, Slota became an MP and his SNS joined the ruling coalition with Robert Fico's Direction - Social Democracy party and Vladimír Mečiar´s People's Party - Movement for a Democratic Slovakia. After the unsuccessful 2012 parliamentary election, he resigned as the Chairman of the party and became Honorary Chairman.

He was dismissed from the party in April 2013, due to the "inefficient management of the property of the party".

Controversies

Slota is frequently criticized for arrogance, nationalism, and extremism and being "a xenophobic politician who has stirred anti-Hungarian sentiments." The Slovak Spectator reports that most of the media attention Slota receives is because of statements that cross "the line not just of political but also human decency." Slota says he is protecting Slovaks, especially those living in southern Slovakia. He famously remarked at a rally that "we will get into our tanks and level Budapest, if [the Hungarian minority] attempt to teach us the Lord's Prayer in Hungarian ever again." It's also worth noting that this statement had a grammar error in Slovak (incorrect case). After this statement, a map was published on the official SNS webpage showing Hungary as a part of Slovakia. He also said about Hungarians that "Even in 1248 a Frankish bishop was amazed after visiting the Carpathian Basin that God could have given such a beautiful country to such ugly people. He was referring to the old Hungarians, who were Mongoloid types with crooked legs and even more disgusting horses. Somehow these people have vanished. Who civilized them? Probably us, the Slovaks". He believes 200 members of the Hungarian intelligence are spying in Slovakia. Slota said that the country's ethnic Hungarian minority "is a tumour in the body of the Slovak nation." While Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány and his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico were meeting in Brussels, he called the Turul, a Hungarian mythological falcon an "ugly parrot", and insulted the first Hungarian king (Stephen I of Hungary) by calling him a "clown on a horse" (he was referring to the statue of king Stephen I which is standing in the Buda Castle).

Slota called the fascist leader Jozef Tiso "one of the greatest sons of the Slovak nation" and on February 17, 2000, 40 of the 41 city council members in Žilina, where Slota was mayor, voted to dedicate a plaque honoring Tiso. According to Der Spiegel Slota said the best policy for dealing with the Roma was "a long whip in a small yard." According to him: "70 percent of the Roma are criminals." He has also questioned whether homosexuals are normal people, and associated them with pedophiles.

Nováky Power Plant incident

In 1982 Slota worked in the Nováky Power Plant, where during the demolition of a wooden cooling tower he gave the order to burn it down. The flames reached 70 meters and the wind blew the cinders as far away as 500 meters. Slota was convicted of threatening public safety and sentenced to one year conditionally.

Court cases

Documents detailing Slota's alleged criminal past were published by Markíza, the leading private television station in Slovakia, which resulted in a court case Markíza v Slota. Slota has been involved in another court case regarding his alleged criminal past with the newspaper SME. He lost the case with Markíza TV, however, he won the case involving SME.

During the court proceedings Slota said he was proud of assaulting and beating a Hungarian saying "I am proud of giving that Hungarian a black eye" (Slovak: Na to, že som tomu Maďarovi urobil monokel, som tiež hrdý.)

Tabloid claims

Slota supposedly reported a total yearly income of 311 400 SKK (about €10,000 or US$14,000) in his 2006 annual tax return, however he himself supposedly confirmed that he had bought a Bentley Continental GT for 2.6 million SKK in that year. In his ATR he also supposedly confessed that he has a luxury villa on the Croatian riviera as well as a Porsche Cayenne Turbo S "lent to him by one of his friends for his personal use".