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Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg

Slovak police charged former Prime Minister Robert Fico, the head of the ruling Smer party, with a hate crime, upsetting the country’s political scene less than three months before elections.

Fico, a veteran politician who led three governments, is the highest-profile figure in the European Union’s eastern wing to face investigation for racism as nationalist forces increasingly embrace xenophobic sentiment to rile voters and challenge the bloc’s multi-cultural and liberal values.

The serious-crime unit, which by law can’t publish the full name of a person that’s being charged, listed initials Robert F. with the description of the alleged crime that potentially carries a sentence of one to five years in prison.

Fico was charged with disparaging nation, race and belief and propagating racial and ethnic hate by endorsing extremist views. A person familiar confirmed that it was Fico. A spokesman for the Smer party, which Fico leads, said he would hold a news conference on the issue on Friday.

A country of 5.4 million sandwiched by Hungary and Poland, whose right-wing governments swept to power on campaigns attacking Muslim immigrants, Slovakia has also grappled with a rise in nationalism. A party that openly celebrates the World War II Nazi puppet state already has parliamentary representation and its popularity has risen before the February election.

The serious-crimes unit said a person had been charged in relation to a case in which a former far-right lawmaker, Milan Mazurek, was convicted for extremist statements. Robert F. “publicly approved of those comments and spread them through social media,” the unit said on Facebook.

After the September conviction, Fico posted a video of himself on Facebook in which he said “Milan Mazurek said what almost everyone in the nation thinks.”

The case could hurt Smer as the party tries to cling to a lead in opinion polls before the ballot. Its popularity has dropped since Fico stepped down in the wake of a journalist’s murder last year, while opposition and upstart parties have gained momentum.

Fico dominated politics in the mountainous former communist state for more than a decade but was forced to resign last year amid mass demonstrations due to anger over corruption. While in power, he oversaw Slovakia‘s adoption of the euro in 2009 and focused on increasing social payments, financed partly by higher taxes on banks.

Unlike his counterparts in Poland and Hungary Fico avoided open conflict with the European Union over democratic standards. But he has spread conspiracy theories that foreign actors, including Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros, are trying to take control over politics in eastern Europe.

( Updates with more context starting in second paragraph. )