E/CN.4/1998/79 page 13 The work is said to contain information according to which the Jews did not suffer during the Holocaust. The book also reportedly glorifies the Fascist Government which ruled Slovakia during the Second World War. 44. On 21 November 1997, the Special Rapporteur communicated those allegations concerning the perpetration of anti-Semitic acts to the Governments of the Russian Federation, South Africa, Belarus and the Slovak Republic respectively, asking for the facts and, if reports were true, what measures had been taken or were being considered by the competent authorities. 45. On 3 November 1997, the organization UN Watch reported to the Special Rapporteur that the Prime Minister of Malaysia had made a statement, reproduced in the International Herald Tribune, saying that the Jews were jealous of the progress achieved by the Muslims. The same information was allegedly carried by the official Bernama press agency. UN Watch accuses the Government of the country of promoting an anti-Semitic policy. The Special Rapporteur wrote to the Malaysian Government on 21 November 1997, asking for clarifications regarding those allegations. D. Discrimination against the Roma, Gypsies or travellers 46. In his latest report to the Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/1997/71), the Special Rapporteur mentioned cases of racial discrimination against Roma, particularly by skinheads, in Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Special Rapporteur has learnt of other recent acts of violence and atrocities against Roma from documentation provided by the European Roma Rights Centre. The journal put out by the Centre, Roma Rights, reports the following cases: 6/ “In Ukraine, following a resurgence of police brutality against Roma, a Rom was arrested on 4 December 1996 while collecting dead batteries. He was beaten at the police station in Uzhhorod and on his release said that he had been deprived of food for two days. In the same region, on 1 January 1997, police officers invaded the homes of two Roma families on the pretext that they were looking for a thief. Reliable reports indicate that the police officers struck the adult members of the two families and forced two children aged 16 and 10 to stand and recite 'Gypsies are bastards, the best place for them is in the graveyard'. In Greece, police officers swooped on the Roma camp at Ano Liosia in Attica at 6 a.m. on 27 October 1996, on the pretext of arresting a 21-year-old Rom suspected of stealing cannabis. In the suspect's absence, the police officers took his mother and sister hostage. Verbal exchanges took place as a result of the rage felt by the camp's population and stones were thrown at the police. The police reacted with a second incursion. That same day, the Minister of the Interior said that 'the police had been doing their job and that people should not believe what Gypsies said'. In Bulgaria on 2 and 3 February 1997, the newspapers reported 'the deaths of three Roma children from starvation in the town of Stara Zagora'. On 4 February, following an increase in the price of bread, 2,000 Roma demonstrated in the centre of the town of Pazardzhik in protest against the discriminatory policies of the central Government and the local authorities.”