In Slovakia

Meanwhile, President Caputova, the most trusted Slovak politician, does not often talk about how often she and her daughters receive various threats, including death threats. Yet earlier this week, she posted on social media that she is prepared to take legal action against Smer leader and former PM Robert Fico.

The ruthless double murder of two innocent people on February 21, 2018, triggered the largest wave of anti-government protests in Slovakia's modern history.

Neither Kotleba nor Slovak Togetherness was a stranger to such rhetoric, yet the party never amounted to anything more than a marginal political force.

See also:

Slovak Democracy Seen at Stake in Make-or-Break Election

Slovak Far Right Courts Youth Vote in Pivotal Ballot

Kotleba: Slovak Extremist Who Made Far Right Fashionable

Don't Underestimate Slovakia's Neo-Nazi Threat

Slovak Election Dilemma: To Talk or Not to Talk to Fascists?

Shortly after the verdict, former Prime Minister Robert Fico leapt to Mazurek's defence in a Facebook video.

"Milan Mazurek only said what nearly a whole nation thinks," said Fico, leader of the governing SMER-SD party. "If you execute someone for truth, you will turn him into a national hero. Should we be afraid to say that part of the Roma people abuse the social system?"

For many Slovaks, the texts are a reminder of the sheer depth of corruption in a country still reeling from the shooting of 27-year-old Kuciak and his fiancée in Bratislava in February 2018.

They see the texts as proof that Kocner, who was already in custody when he was charged with ordering Kuciak's murder, thought he was above the law, though he denies any wrongdoing.