In an alarming move, on December 11, the Slovak Parliament adopted an amendment to the Criminal Code section on incitement to war, crimes against humanity, acts of terror and extremism. Introduced by the governing coalition, the new provision criminalizes “any person who “publicly denies” or “calls into question” the “settlement of conditions”established after the Second World War, making such speech punishable by up to six months imprisonment.

The amendment—introduced by the governing coalition—was adopted under accelerated legislative procedure following a tense parliamentary session marked by obstruction and even physical altercation. It passed 76–60.

At the heart of the change lie the Beneš Decrees [1], a set of post–World War II Czechoslovak laws. Thirteen of these decrees imposed collective guilt on the country’s ethnic German and Hungarian minorities, resulting in loss of citizenship, confiscation of property, forced labor, and mass deportation.These decrees and subsequent regulations continue to serve as the legal foundation for ethnic-based expropriations of private property—still carried out without compensation—against individuals of Hungarian and German descent.  [Read latest report and executive summary]Now, with the passage of this law, publicly discussing or attempting to seek remedy for this ongoing human rights violation is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment. 

There has hardly been a more anti-Hungarian move in the past 35 years

Zoltán Szalay, Napunk, December 12, 2025

László Gubík, President of the Hungarian Alliance (Magyar Szövetség) called the move “absurd” and “an unprecedented curtailment of free speech.” “Human rights advocates, historians, human rights victims and those political forces representing them are all potentially subject to six months imprisonment… Since the law does not define post-war ‘settlement of conditions,’ a historian organizing an academic conference, a filmmaker producing a documentary, a private individual speaking out in defense of their own property or a politician speaking out in connection with measures taken after 1945 could potentially be exposed to criminal liability.” [Facebook video, December 11, 2025]

Not a historical matter: How legalized ethnic discrimination is carried out today

Slovakia’s 462,000-strong Hungarian minority [2] has yet to receive, compensation, or restitution for the WWII-era abuses committed under the decrees. On the contrary, since at least 2009, the relevant Beneš Decrees are being implemented through most notably Slovak National Council Ordinance No. 104/1945, which originally mandated the ethnic-based land seizures. In a November 25, 2025 letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, the Hungarian Alliance urged an investigation into these practices:

“Today, Slovak state bodies maintain that these decrees are merely historical documents with no present legal effect. However, in practice, the principle of collective guilt is still being applied. Under the pretext of “correcting” historical administrative mistakes, Slovak authorities have revived unenforced confiscation orders to expropriate land from descendants.

These actions are not isolated administrative anomalies. Rather, they form a systematic effort by state institutions—including the Slovak Land Fund and the State Forests company—to obtain valuable land without compensation. Since 2019, at least 800 hectares have been transferred to the state in this manner, primarily in southern Slovakia where members of the Hungarian minority reside. The value of the affected land already exceeds one billion euros. These proceedings are conducted quietly, often without proper notice or effective legal remedy.”