COLLECTION
2009 News
Neo Nazi groups in the Czech Republic and Eastern Europe countries By Gwendolyn Albert Zeitfixierer 1 Table of contents 1. A. B. C. 2. A. B. 3. A. B. How do act the Neo‐Nazis ? Political activities Public actions Violence Justice and Neo‐Nazism Arrest Trial and jail Struggling Neo‐Nazism Understand the functioning Act against the movement Page 3 Page 9 Page 14 Page 17 Page 27 Page 33 Page 38 All the documents in this Collection have been published in 2009 in English on the website http://romea.cz/english after being translated by Gwendolyn Albert. 2 1. How do act the Neo‐Nazis ? A. Political activities Ústí nad Labem/
Litvínov, 8.6.2009 « Extremists supported by residents of some municipalities in the Ústí region » The neo‐Nazi Workers’ Party (Dělnická strana – DS) and the xenophobic National Party (Národní strana – NS), spoken of in the run‐up to the EP elections primarily in terms of their controversial ads, were particularly supported over the weekend by some municipalities in the Ústí and Karlovy Vary regions, according to data published on the website of the Czech Statistical Institute. The DS received roughly one percent of the vote nationwide, while the NS received about one‐fourth of a percent. Neither made it into the EP. During their campaigns, both parties caused a stir with their meetings and anti‐Roma election ads. Czech Television and Czech Radio refused to broadcast them and filed criminal charges over their content. The largest percentage of those voting for the DS live in Všehrdy, with a total of 46 voters representing 32 % of the eligible votes cast in the town. One‐fourth of those voting supported the extremists in Ovesný Kladruby and in Rovná. Only four votes were needed to constitute 25 % in Ovesný Kladruby. The largest number of votes for the DS were cast in Litvínov. Election commissioners counted 377, constituting roughly 8 % of votes cast. At the Janov housing estate in Litvínov, where the DS contributed to an attempted pogrom against the Roma, they won 93 votes. The DS received roughly the same percentage of votes in Bílina and in Krupka. In Bílina 188 people voted for the party, in Krupka 157, and in Postoloprty 46. In towns throughout the Ústí region where there are problems with socially excluded localities, the DS regularly holds gatherings and marches. Their march on the Janov housing estate in Litvínov ended in clashes with locals and police. They have held other controversial actions in Krupka, Chomutov and Bílina. Percentage‐wise, the National Party (NS) was most represented in the town of Zvěřínek, where 17 people cast ballots in favour of the party – 20 % of the vote there. In Chodov, 49 votes were cast for the NS, representing just 2.2 % of the local vote. Prague, « Some leading Workers’ Party candidates are neo‐Nazi sympathizers » 9.9.2009 Czech Television has determined that three regional leaders of neo‐Nazi groups figure prominently on the candidate lists of the Workers’ Party (Dělnická strana ‐ DS) for the early elections this fall. Czech Interior Minister Martin Pecina is reviewing the information and will consider adding it to his proposal that the Supreme Administrative Court abolish the party which he will submit to the cabinet on 16 September. "If the facts you mention prove to be correct, then they would of course support our argument to the Supreme Administrative Court,” Pecina told Czech Television. Workers’ Party chair Tomáš Vandas says all of the evidence is a forgery. Both Czech Television and Romea.cz have obtained photographs documenting the neo‐Nazi sympathies of DS candidates Jiří Švehlík, Milan Hroch and Patrik Vondrák. Švehlík has been photographed wearing a t‐shirt with the logo of the neo‐Nazi band Skrewdriver and standing next to the guitarist of the neo‐Nazi band Hlas Krve (Voice of Blood). He is also photographed holding a flag with the colors of the German Reich. Patrik Vondrák is one of the organizers of the neo‐Nazi march through the streets of Prague’s Jewish Town two years ago, and Milan Hroch is photographed giving the Nazi salute together with members of the banned National Resistance group.
3 "The tendency of any given party to make sure such people do not run as candidates must be monitored,” expert on extremism Miroslav Mareš told Czech Television. Vandas says the photographs made available to Czech Television are montages. “They definitely have to be montages, because I obtained written declarations from everyone prior to the regional elections,” Vandas told Czech Television. For the time being the Interior Ministry does not want to publicize how its new proposal to dissolve the extreme‐right Workers’ Party will differ from its first attempt. Last year Interior Minister Ivan Langr (ODS) proposed the party be dissolved, but the court rejected the motion for lack of evidence. Berlin, « German neo‐Nazis tell immigrant politicians to go home » 23.9.2009 In the run‐up to parliamentary elections this weekend in Germany, the extreme‐right National Democratic Party (NPD) has sent all candidates of immigrant background a letter telling them to return to their countries of origin. The state prosecutor has begun to investigate the incident as incitement to hatred, according to yesterday’s Tagesspiegel daily. The NPD is the most successful German nationalist party, with state‐level parliamentary representatives in the eastern states of Mecklenburg‐Western Pomerania and Saxony. Activists from the German Network against Nazis group say the NPD program is racist and anti‐Semitic and that party members include people from neo‐Nazi clubs. The German government made an unsuccessful attempt a few years ago to have the party banned.
Tagesspiegel reports that the Berlin branch of the NPD is doing its best to revive its flagging electoral campaign. The letter was sent to the homes of German MPs of Turkish origin as well as other candidates. The two‐page communication looks like an official announcement sent by “Your attorney‐in‐fact for the repatriation of foreigners.” The letter claims to acquaint its recipient “with the details of your journey home” and recommends immigrants start seeking work and housing in their homelands “right away”. "They have not yet understood that this country is our country too,” said Green Party candidate Özcan Mutlu, who received the letter last weekend. Mutlu said he frequently receives threatening letters and e‐mails from right‐wing extremists and is used to it. However, this time he is concerned the mailing might frighten some immigrants, as not everyone might realize the letter was just a “cheap electoral trick” of the NPD with no basis in law. The Berlin branch of the NPD has confirmed that it sent the letter over the weekend. Since the envelopes did not include a sending address, responsibility lies with the head of the Berlin NPD, Jörg Hähnel. He has said other candidates will be sent the party’s “announcement” as well. Michael von Hagen of the Supreme State Prosecutor’s office said the letter is grounds for suspicion of incitement to hatred. Hähnel has been taken to court twice in the past over similar invectives, but the verdicts in those cases have not yet taken legal effect. Some analysts say the letter is just part of the NPD strategy to draw attention to themselves at any price prior to the elections. Tagesspiegel reports that the party barely managed to get into the state parliament during recent state‐level elections in Saxony, did not succeed in Thuringia, plays no role in the western states, has very little chance of success in Brandenburg, and has no chance of representation at federal level. 4 Brno,
30.9.2009 « Supreme Administrative Court reviewing proposal to dissolve the Workers’ Party »
Today the Supreme Administrative Court will start its review of a proposal to dissolve the neo‐Nazi Workers’ Party. The Czech Government first proposed dissolving the party this past spring, but the court ruled against that first motion, saying the proposal had been poorly prepared and did not present sufficient evidence. Prague,
23.10.2009 The Czech Government is now being represented in this dispute by attorney Tomáš Sokol. In an interview for the “20 Minutes” program on the Radiožurnál radio station yesterday, Sokol said the work was very interesting for him: "Naturally this is somewhat of an exceptional case. Some would call it a challenge, but I prefer to think of it as essentially an opportunity for very interesting work.” « Prague Workers’ Party leader and head of women’s neo‐Nazi group in custody » Romea.cz has learned that Patrik Vondrák, a representative of the neo‐Nazi National Resistance organization who headed the Prague candidate list for the Workers’ Party, has been arrested and remains in custody. Michaela Dupová, head of the Czech neo‐Nazi organization Resistance Women Unity (RWU), is also in custody. Neo‐Nazi web pages linked to the Workers’ Party are reporting that Vondrák has been taken into custody and charged with “supporting and promoting National Resistance”. Dupová was a regular speaker on behalf of RWU at demonstrations and ran on the Workers’ Party candidate list in the Central Bohemian regional elections. The Antifa.cz web server published this profile of Dupová prior to the regional elections in 2008: "She is a committed neo‐Nazi from the Resistance Women Unity organization who collaborates with National Resistance. Michaela Dupová is one of the main people in the group, which promotes the women’s view of modern Nazism, yet another interesting part of the mosaic that is the contemporary Czech ‘brown‐shirt’ scene. What RWU does is give speeches at demonstrations, publish articles on their web page, and send care packages to imprisoned neo‐Nazis, whom they refer to as Prisoners of War. RWU’s definition of ‘political’ imprisonment also includes neo‐Nazis who have been sentenced for ‘non‐ideological activity’ such as armed robbery, as in the case of Marek Henzl, a violent criminal from Plzeň. Dupová is intimately linked to Patrik Vondrák, a leading National Resistance figure in Prague.” Patrik Vondrák and Michaela Dupová were arrested during the Wednesday raid against promoters of neo‐Nazism, during which 24 people were arrested. Yesterday Robert Šlachta, head of the Organized Crime Detection Unit (ÚOOZ), told ČTK that police suspect those arrested of the crime of supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. On Wednesday the Workers’ Party chair told ČTK that police also arrested Matyáš Sombati, vice‐chair of Workers’ Youth and deputy editor of the Workers’ News (Dělnické listy), confiscating a computer which contains a database of Workers’ Youth members and other personal effects of his. Sombati was released that same day. Prague,
28.10.2009
« Workers’ Party leader in Ostrava a convicted violent criminal, information not included in Czech Government’s motion to dissolve the party » Tomáš Vandas, chair of the Workers’ Party, (Dělnická strana ‐ DS), is very insistent in claiming that none of his party’s functionaries have criminal records. He has even asked them all to sign declarations to that effect, and therefore does not see the slightest reason why his party should be banned. This insistence on clean records was behind his vehement protests when Patrik Vondrák, chair of the Prague DS cell, was recently arrested. 5 However, there is already at least one case in which the principle of a clean criminal record cannot be said to apply to a DS functionary. The chair of the party’s local organization in Ostrava, Benedict Vácha, ran as their candidate in the 2008 regional elections. This active member of National Resistance Silesia has participated in many neo‐Nazi demonstrations, such as the one in Orlová in 2003 (at the age of 16). Three years later he organized an event in Hlučín. He was also at the 1 May 2007 demonstration in Prague and shortly thereafter at one in Havířov. However, he has not merely been active in expressing his opinions in public. In at least one case he has followed them up with action. Innocent people suffer for a football victory The victory of the Czech Republic’s football team over Norway and their entry into the world championship in Germany in 2005 was celebrated in Ostrava by a group of youths in an exceptionally brutal way. Three men who had just reached majority, a 17‐year‐old girl and several other unidentified assailants proceeded to beat up at least seven unsuspecting people without provocation on the night of 16 November. Their motive was indicated by one who was later taken into custody and charged: He had given the Nazi salute during the attack. “It was like an avalanche that left a slew of injured people behind,” one of the victims, Deputy Director of the Czech Police in Ostrava Josef Pravda, told the daily Právo. “My friends and I were leaving a restaurant where we had been watching the match, and suddenly I was kicked in the back from behind.” While he remained on the ground, at least six skinhead attackers attacked other random passers‐by."We did our best to prevent them, but it was very difficult, because they were really pumped up. My colleague tried to get the operations center to send out a patrol and they arrested part of the group in Tyršová street," Pravda said. As a result of the attack his back and elbow were injured. "The other victims I saw in the hospital suffered worse,” he told Právo. The local reporter for the daily Lidové noviny was also attacked by the group while walking his dog. “I heard nothing and was suddenly struck from behind. I fell to the ground. They started kicking me, mainly in the head. Then they disappeared and I stayed lying on the ground in my own blood,” the journalist described the incident to the ČTK agency. After the attack he was unable to see out of his left eye, which was “decorated” with a bloody weal and several lacerations. "My face is a riot of color, the film director Tarantino might even offer me a role,” he joked. Although the police have repeatedly called on the public to help identify the three unknown assailants who remain at large, they have never been found. Don’t be afraid, liquidate them By October 2006, Benedikt Vácha had become a suspect in the case described above. On the web pages of National Resistance, a Nazi organization, he claimed he was innocent, adding: “Our faith is strong, and that is what they are afraid of, that they will never destroy us, that we will always go forward, and after every defeat we will get up again and again, a thousand times over if necessary! (…) I am not afraid of prison or death, my only fear is that I will not manage to do everything I have resolved to do. I keep this constantly in mind. I see the origin of this evil, and also who is spreading it. I will never forget!” Vácha also presented himself as a member of National Corporativism Ostrava, an organization labeled extremist by the Czech Interior Ministry. This organization ceased to exist when the leadership of the Workers’ Party, which at the time was completely insignificant, decided to take the neo‐Nazis under its wing so it could gain control of the streets throughout the country. The criminal proceedings in the case involved almost surreal errors on the part of the investigating detectives. As a result, the Ostrava district court was able to sentence only two of the accused in October 2007. Benedikt Vácha and Veronika Zemňáková, a dogged promoter of the Workers’ Party, were both acquitted. For a long time thereafter, Vácha prided himself on this verdict even as the case was being appealed. 6 In November 2008, a demonstration of several neo‐Nazi organizations in support of Serbia and against the independence of Kosovo took place in Karviná. Benedikt Vácha gave a speech there on behalf of the Workers’ Party. The event closed with participants burning the flag of the European Union. Vácha finally convicted, Czech Government motion to dissolve the Workers’ Party fails to mention it In February of this year, the Regional Court in Ostrava issued a final verdict on appeal in the case of Benedikt Vácha and his accomplices. The verdict found the Ostrava leader of the Workers’ Party guilty of participating in an assault on one of the victims together with a minimum of four other assailants; the court lacked evidence to sentence them for their participation in attacking anyone else. Vácha was sentenced for attempted grievous bodily harm and rioting to a two‐year prison sentence, suspended for 28 months. His friend and fellow assailant Ivan Bohdan was sentenced for actual bodily harm, promotion of Nazism, and loan fraud to an overall verdict of six‐and‐a‐half years in prison. The third convict, Milan Honkyš, received a three‐and‐a‐half year prison sentence. According to the verdict, the court found Vácha guilty of “punching [the victim] in the face, throwing him to the ground, surrounding him and kicking him in the head and body while wearing heavy boots, and stomping on his head and body.” Today Tomáš Vandas can claim he never knew anything about any of this. However, his claims that the functionaries of his party are clean will last only until the judges of the Supreme Administrative Court review their criminal records. The Czech Government, however, did not include this important verdict in its most recent proposal to dissolve the party, and the government’s filing is the only avenue by which such information is permitted to reach them. The question is: Why did they leave it out? Prague, « Approximately 100 neo‐Nazis attend Workers’ Party gathering in Prague » 29.10.2009 Yesterday approximately 100 neo‐Nazis led by the Workers’ Party (Dělnická strana ‐ DS) gathered on náměstí Jiřího z Poděbrad in Prague. The event lasted a little more than an hour. Participants listened to speeches and started to disperse at around 14:30. The gathering, called a “Day of National Unity”, was accompanied by security measures involving dozens of police officers and an anti‐conflict team. "No police intervention was necessary because the gathering took place in total calm,” Prague police spokesperson Andrea Zoulová told ČTK at the scene when the meeting was over. She said police were monitoring all of the 28 October commemoration events in the city and had evaluated the DS gathering as a high‐risk one. DS chair Tomáš Vandas was the first speaker. In a speech lasting roughly half an hour, he criticized the current political situation and leading politicians. He also spoke about the party’s program and criticized the government’s proposal to ban it. The Supreme Administrative Court has already received the government motion, but Vandas believes the court will reject it just as it rejected the one submitted by the last cabinet. "There is nothing to be worried about, our conscience is clear," Vandas said, adding that he would participate in the next parliamentary elections no matter what the court decided. Vandas also referred to last week’s raid on members of the ultra‐right which resulted in detectives charging 18 people, including the chair of the Prague DS organization, Patrik Vondrák, and party member Michaela Dupová. Both are now in custody. Vandas repeated his assertion that the raid was related to the government’s attempt to ban the party and said the authorities are conducting a “desperate search for evidence.” "We demand an end to this police persecution and the release of political prisoners in the Czech Republic,” he said. "Today they are sitting in judgment against us, but we will be judging them next.” 7 At the end of his speech, Vandas called on those present to participate in a gathering on 17 November in Prague. The next speakers included Martin Zbela, chair of the Workers’ Youth, who called for a collection to be taken up to support “post‐1989 political prisoners”, and DS vice‐chair Petr Kotáb. Well‐known faces from the ultra‐right scene were also on the square, such as Erik Sedláček and the alleged former spokesperson for the neo‐Nazi National Resistance group, Petr Kalinovský. Several groups expressed their opposition to the gathering, such as the Students against Racism initiative. Their members put up posters around the square prior to the event calling on people to take an active stand against fascism, neo‐Nazism and racism. Invitations to yesterday’s event appeared on the website of the neo‐Nazi National Resistance organization. Neo‐Nazis from the Autonomous Nationalists had originally planned to gather in Otrokovice, but their gathering was canceled. "Instead of Otrokovice, come to Prague to express your dissatisfaction on 28 October and 17 November,” the National Resistance website read. Last year’s DS gathering on 28 October at náměstí Jiří z Poděbrad lasted approximately half an hour. Between 150 ‐200 people came to hear speeches by party chair Vandas and vice‐chair Štěpánek. Some of them were armed. Police officers took three people into custody to determine their identities and arrested another 10 for carrying blade weapons. Louny, « Louny residents protest against Workers’ Party neo‐Nazis in their town » 7.11.2009 About 50 residents of Louny protested today against neo‐Nazis from the Workers’ Party who are holding a regional conference in the town. News server Deník.cz reports that approximately 30 members or sympathizers of the party connected to the neo‐Nazi movement are attending the conference. About 50 local opponents of the party gathered in front of the Na široké restaurant today. Deník.cz reports they unfurled a banner reading “Stop All Forms of Fascism!” This evening a concert by the neo‐Nazi band Ortel, which is supported by the neo‐Nazi organization National Resistance, is scheduled to take place at the restaurant. The Dynamit band is also scheduled to play. "We are preparing security measures corresponding to the information available to us about Workers’ Party events,” Jaromíra Střelcová, spokesperson for the Louny Police, said prior to the start of the event. She was not willing to comment on the number of officers deployed to monitor it. 8 B. Public actions Prague, « Neo‐Nazi concert cancelled at which WP leader was to speak » 15.6.2009 Organizers have cancelled a concert by the neo‐Nazi band Call of Freedom which was to have taken place at the end of this month in North Bohemia, according to information published on the official website of the event. Representatives of the extremist Workers’ Party (Dělnická strana) were to have given speeches there and several groups from various countries were to have performed. Last week police charged 10 neo‐Nazis from National Resistance with organizing concerts at which Nazism and fascism were allegedly promoted. "This event has been cancelled! Please let your friends know," the website says. On one internet chat room to which right‐wing radicals contribute, the cancellation of this “political meeting followed by a musical performance” was said to be due to “state repression”. According to invitations circulating on the web, the event was organized by the Workers’ Party and the Hate Core Shop. According to a flyer published on the shop’s website, the party wanted to celebrate its recent success during the EP elections at the event. The WP received 1.09 % of the vote. Head of the Hate Core Shop Martin Franěk is allegedly one of the radicals whom police arrested and charged last week. According to Ondřej Cakl, who has followed the ultra‐right scene for many years, Franěk is a significant organizer of neo‐Nazi concerts. Party chief Tomáš Vandas, first vice‐chair Jiří Štěpánek and party presidium member Martin Zbela were all scheduled to speak at the event. Several bands considered extreme‐right or neo‐Nazi were scheduled to perform, such as the US groups Bully Boys or H8Machine. Czech bands were to be represented by Attack. According to Cakl, Attack’s lineup includes Vilém Farkač, allegedly another of the 10 men recently charged. Detectives of the Organized Crime Detection Unit (Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu ‐ ÚOOZ) arrested 10 radicals last Tuesday. According to police, all of them were members of the neo‐Nazi National Resistance. Police say those charged organized 11 concerts since April of last year with the awareness that the performers and the audience would be disseminating the ideas of neo‐Nazism, racism, and xenophobia during the concerts and that the National Resistance movement would be promoted at them. The men face between three and eight years in prison for supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. Five of those arrested have been remanded into custody. Lukáš Rod is allegedly among those charged; according to Cakl, Rod evidently took part in preparing the Call of Freedom event. During a recent march by right‐wing radicals through Jihlava, which officials dispersed shortly after it began, Cakl says Rod was seen wearing an organizer’s armband. The WP has provided its auspices to another "musical‐political festival" called Den svobody 2 (Freedom Day 2). According to this event’s website, the gathering will take place in mid‐August near Prague. WP representatives will be among those giving speeches. Among the groups scheduled to perform is the band Devils Guard, whose lead singer, Pavel Blinka, is allegedly another of the 10 radicals recently charged. Cakl says Blinka recently participated in marches by far‐right adherents in Jihlava and Ústí nad Labem, where he accompanied the marchers on drums. 9 Prague, « Documentary on the attempted neo‐Nazi pogrom at Janov » 7.9.2009 FAMU film student Tereza Reichová has created a documentary about last November’s events at the predominantly Roma‐inhabited housing estate of Janov in the town of Litvínov. Last year a Workers’ Party demonstration there exceeded all previous neo‐Nazi events when the extremists were supported during their attempted pogrom by a large number of people not normally involved with their organizations. The premiere of “Kruh ‐ portrét demonstrace” (“Circle: Portrait of a Demonstration”) will be today, 7 September 2009 at the NoD club in Prague. The film reflects the opinions of four groups that participated in the conflict: Those who participated in the Workers’ Party march, those who participated in the counter‐demonstration, journalists, and representatives of the police and the town of Litvínov. The Workers’ Party demonstration that took place on 17 November 2008 in Litvínov was followed by a march by the Autonomous Nationalists on the Janov housing estate. Neo‐Nazis clashed with police in the turning circle near the estate. The event was exceptional primarily because a large number of local residents joined the neo‐Nazis. The extremists had never received as much sympathy from outsiders during any of their other actions. The director filmed on the spot and then invited people who had participated in the demonstration to return to the turning circle a few months later, where she showed them the film of the events. One side of the circle was occupied by those who had participated in the Workers’ Party demonstration, the other by members of the Roma counter‐demonstration, another by representatives of the town and police, and the last side was occupied by journalists. The title, “Circle”, refers to the place of the conflict, to its historical context, and to the complexity of the entire problem. The premiere will be followed by a discussion between filmmaker Tereza Reichová, Ondřej Cakl of the organization Tolerance and Civil Society (Tolerance a Občanská společnost), Filip Láb of the Social Sciences Faculty at Charles University, and a representative of the Romea.cz news server. Kladno, « Neo‐Nazis head to Kladno today » 28.9.2009 Neo‐Nazis have called online for a St. Václav’s Day demonstration this afternoon in Kladno. The event was properly announced to the authorities and will be monitored by municipal officials and the state police. The town hall is prepared to disperse the gathering should illegal behavior take place. According to information obtained by Romea.cz, the event was announced by Jiří Bunda, a regular speaker at neo‐Nazi demonstrations who made an unsuccessful bid in the 2006 regional elections with the Právo a Spravedlnost (“Law and Justice”) party. During the 2008 regional elections he ran as a Workers’ Party candidate. In the past Bunda has also been a member of the Vlastenecká fronta (“Patriotic Front”) and Národní sjednocení (“National Unity”) organizations. He also attends events organized by National Resistance. Lastly, Bunda was the announcer of the march by Autonomous Nationalists on 17 November 2008 in Litvínov which turned into an attempted pogrom on the Roma living at the Janov housing estate there. Similar events have taken place in Kladno on the St. Václav holiday in recent years. Last year the event was convened by the Workers’ Party and the Autonomous Nationalists. Up to 300 participants were monitored by mounted police and a helicopter. Anarchists were also on the scene, but police officers did not have to handle any serious incidents. Just like last year, this year’s St. Václav demonstration is to take place on náměstí Sítná, which is not in the town center. The town hall does not often ban marches or demonstrations, claiming the information listed in the announcement of the event usually does not give them enough grounds to do so. While the town has previously banned some marches announced by radical groups, those decisions have often been subsequently overturned by the courts. 10 Kladno, « Two hundred neo‐Nazis march through Kladno » 29.9.2009 Approximately 200 neo‐Nazis gathered yesterday at around 14:00 on náměstí Sítná in Kladno. The event, organized by the Autonomous Nationalists and called “St. Václav’s Demonstration”, was monitored by police. Promoters of the extreme right visit the town annually on the St. Václav holiday. On a square located outside the town centre, several speakers including guests from Poland and Sweden addressed the crowd. Demonstrators carried flags with national symbols, the logo of the Autonomous Nationalists, and black banners. At around 14:20 they set off on a march through the town along a previously announced route, chanting various slogans such as: "Radically, socially, nationally!", "Saint Václav", "Stop black racism", "Bohemia for the Czechs” and "We don’t want ‘multikulti’ ". Regular participants in Workers’ Party events were among the neo‐Nazis gathered. At one point during the march, the right‐wing radicals passed a group of about 30 of their opponents, who were chanting "Antifa!" The two camps were separated by riot police, so the skirmishes between them were only verbal. Several Roma were among the anti‐fascists. From the neo‐Nazi crowd someone was heard to yell: "You were supposed to have gone up in smoke!" After walking approximately 1.5 kilometers, the adherents of neo‐Nazism reached the Kladno chateau, where they listened to a second set of speeches in Zádušní street. One of the speakers was Jiří Bunda, a leading figure in the Autonomous Nationalists who organized the entire event. Bunda was also one of those who convened last year’s march by right‐wing radicals on the Janov housing estate in Litvínov, which turned into an attempted pogrom on the Roma living there. Speakers mentioned the St. Václav tradition and criticized the current political system. Right‐wing radicals in the crowd responded by yelling “Resistance!” and other slogans. At around 15:20 they ended the event and headed back towards náměstí Sítná. On the way back, the neo‐Nazis attempted to attack three of their opponents who were yelling “Antifa” at the crowd. One neo‐Nazi was knocked to the ground by police and detained. One neo‐Nazi opponent was also detained. “They are suspected of the crime of rioting,” Kladno police spokesperson Jana Šteinerová told ČTK. She said police would continue to monitor the situation in the town. Neo‐Nazis met in honour of the St. Václav holiday for the first time in Kladno in 2005. Last year the event was jointly convened by the Autonomous Nationalists and the Workers’ Party. Opponents of neo‐Nazism have regularly protested the demonstrations and marches in past years as well. Prague, « 60 neo‐Nazis now marching without a permit from the Office of the Government to 21.10.2009 Bartolomějská street in Prague » At 6 PM this evening, neo‐Nazis in Prague convened a protest action in front of the Office of the Government. The call to participate was sent out on the website of the neo‐Nazi National Resistance organization. Workers’ Youth (Dělnická mládež), the youth branch of the Workers’ Party also called on people to participate. The neo‐Nazis are protesting against the police raid unleashed against them today. According to reports from a Romea.cz correspondent, who is directly at the scene, the space in front of the Office of the Government is encircled by police tape and police officers are on guard. Riot police are prepared in vans nearby. There more than 50 neo‐Nazis and the question is whether the police will permit them into the space. Police officers told ČTK that the office has clearly marked the area around its grounds and does not want anyone there. The neo‐Nazis include Jiří Bárta, chair of the local Workers’ Party organization in Vlašim, whose Prague apartment was searched by police today. Police arrested his girlfriend, active neo‐Nazi Eva Bittmanová. 11 Prague, « Neo‐Nazis want to disrupt 17 November commemorations in Prague » 2.11.2009 The web server Týden.cz reports that neo‐Nazis intend to disrupt all of the commemorative events scheduled to take place in Prague on 17 November, the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism. The disruptions are intended as a response to a recent raid in which police arrested 24 right‐wing radicals, 18 of whom have been charged with supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. Some of those charged are suspected by police of preparing terrorist attacks on electrical power stations or other enterprises. Police say they are monitoring the upcoming neo‐Nazi activity and will take appropriate measures. "We are planning to completely take over the celebrations to draw attention to the political prisoners and this criminal regime,” Týden.cz quotes Filip Vávra, the spiritual father of the banned neo‐Nazi organization National Resistance, as saying. However, Vávra refused to give further details on who would participate in the protests, saying only that “freedom has never been as much at risk during the past 20 years as it is right now. People are angry." Týden.cz reports that the Workers’ Party (Dělnická strana ‐ DS), which the court is currently considering abolishing, has also indicated it will participate in the neo‐Nazi events on 17 November. Their promoters were the ones who unleashed a street battle with police on that same day last year in Litvínov when they tried to march on the mostly Roma‐inhabited Janov housing estate. Police protected residents only by resorting to the use of riot equipment, officers on horseback, teargas and stun grenades. "We are paying attention to the situation and taking the appropriate measures. I cannot comment further," David Janda, head of the Prague Police Anti‐Extremism Division responded to Týden.cz when asked about the upcoming events. The news server writes that the neo‐Nazis are secretly convening a gathering of all extremist organizations for 17 November which will come to a head on Národní třída, the street where the communist‐era police brutally dispersed a peaceful student demonstration on 17 November 1989. That intervention prompted protests nationwide which resulted in the fall of the communist regime. DS chair Tomáš Vandas told Týden.cz last Monday that the party will not join the protests because it is planning its own event. However, last Wednesday Vandas was reported by Lidové noviny has having indicated the party would participate in the disruption. In a speech given on the anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia, he said the following: “We will see each other again on 17 November on Národní třída. Just let them send out the riot police on the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. At least this regime will show its true face.” Týden.cz also reported that the extremists have classified as “secret” their intentions to participate in disrupting the celebrations. This might explain why there is no mention of such a protest on any of the ultra‐right websites. Extremism expert Ondřej Cakl is not surprised by the neo‐Nazi activity. "I expected this, but I do not know how many of them will turn up. They are currently experiencing a big decline in membership, maybe this event will mobilize them,” Cakl told Týden.cz. 12 Vlašim, « Neo‐Nazi demonstration in Vlašim a fiasco » 28.11.2009 Today’s neo‐Nazi gathering in Vlašim was a complete debacle. Several dozen police officers monitored a total of nine neo‐Nazis who literally ran through the town and were paid no attention by passers‐by. The gathering was convened by the Autonomous Nationalists, who called it a “March for Political Prisoners”. Zuzana Stránská, spokesperson for the Benešov police force, said the police did not have to resolve any conflicts. Nine neo‐Nazis carrying flags and black and white shields with the initials AN set off on their march from the train station carrying a banner inscribed “Freedom For All Nationalists” and chanting slogans such as "Freedom for Political Prisoners”, "Hassling the People", "The Czech Republic Is A Police State", "Resistance" and "Let Our People Go". After a roughly three‐kilometer march they arrived at the courtyard of the local chateau, where two of them gave speeches about the police interventions earlier this year against right‐wing extremists during which many other devotees were arrested. Some are still in custody. The town hall originally banned the gathering. However, on Thursday the Regional Court canceled the ban for lack of evidence, saying the town did not prove the purpose of the gathering was to support nationalists, i.e., people who deny others their human rights and aim to restrict their rights, who spread hatred and intolerance, and who violate the constitution and the law. The court said the announcement of the event, which used the acronym AN, was no indication it was being convened by someone from the Autonomous Nationalists, who have previously painted graffiti in the town. 13 C. Violence Prague, « Neo‐Nazis a threat to children of the Czech PM and Interior Minister, police are 14.6.2009 protecting them » On Friday, police indirectly confirmed the connection between their recent raids on neo‐Nazis and the protection they are now providing the 12‐year‐old son of Czech PM Jan Fischer and the family of Interior Minister Martin Pecina. Deputy Police President Jiří Houba told journalists the move was a preventive measure, saying police assume the right‐wing extremist scene will continue to radicalize. "This intervention will definitely lead to their (the extremists) seeking some way to draw even more attention to themselves. The police are taking preventive measures," Houba said. According to Robert Šlachta, director of the Organized Crime Detection Unit (Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu ‐ ÚOOZ), police have information that the extremists are angry over the detectives’ recent interventions and are doing their best to sow terror. Houba said another reason PM Fischer is likely to be at risk is that he openly practices Judaism. Houba said extremists denounce this religion and target its practitioners. According to Friday’s Právo, Fischer was converted to Judaism by his son. The paper reports both cabinet members as saying the possible threat to their children is very unpleasant. Pecina told Právo he wants to move his family from Brno to be with him in Prague as soon as possible. His children are all school‐aged. The fact that the neo‐Nazis do not hesitate to use violence is testified to by a recent invitation to a demonstration on one neo‐Nazi server last Wednesday: "We must stand together against the criminal practices of this pro‐Zionist system, stand up for ourselves, clench our fists and show them who the real strength of this nation is!” The invitation has since been altered; now the website reads, “Liberate them with your anger: Get radical!” Last Tuesday, police arrested 10 neo‐Nazis from National Resistance (Národní odpor) whom they subsequently charged with supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. Those arrested face up to eight years in prison for organizing concerts promoting Nazism and fascism. The Interior Minister has made the fight against extremism one of his priorities. A new anti‐extremist group has been active at the ministry since last week, led by Pecina’s first deputy minister, Jiří Komorous, former head of the National Anti‐Drug Headquarters (Národní protidrogová centrála). Fischer also mentioned the fight against extremists and racially motivated violence when introducing his government’s program declaration. Pecina has already stated earlier that he is preparing another motion to the Supreme Administrative Court to dissolve the extreme‐right Worker’s Party (Dělnická strana). He would also like to ban the nationalist National Party (Národní strana). In response to the arrest of the 10 radicals, extremists held actions in Brno and Karlovy Vary on Wednesday. Roughly 70 people participated in each city. On Thursday there were protests in Chomutov, Olomouc and Ostrava attended by several dozen people. In Ostrava police did not permit them to march; what is more, they suspect representatives of the group of having committed a misdemeanor against the law on assembly. Chomutov police suspect two protesters of having committed a misdemeanor for having covered their faces during the demonstration. 14 The ultra‐right has announced actions in other towns up until 15 June on the websites of the National Resistance and the Autonomous Nationalists (Autonomní nacionalisty) under the slogan “Get radical!” The extremists have also taken up a collection in support of the arrested men, but it has not yet been properly registered. Prague, « Czech Neo‐Nazis planned terrorist attacks, abductions of police » 6.11.2009 The neo‐Nazi organization White Justice has been preparing terrorist attacks and planning abductions of police officers and “highly positioned Jews” in the Czech Republic, the daily Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) reports. At training camps inside the country, their members have been learning how to destroy property, set cars on fire, and fight both with weapons and without them. The trainings and communications took place in strict secrecy. MfD reports its sources for the information are a secret neo‐Nazi website and the testimonies of the founding members of White Justice, Filip Stránský and Lukáš Sedláček. MfD reports that Filip Stránský is evidently the head of the whole organization, or is at least considered to be the head by some of its members. Stránský himself denies this. The organization has arranged a total of four training camps (so‐called “fight camps”) where professional soldier Lukáš Sedláček taught those interested the basics of attacking specific people or buildings. The group also ran a project called “Red Watch” through which the neo‐Nazis intended to monitor and terrorize their “ideological enemies”, mainly anarchists and police officers. MfD reports that police found plans for the hydroelectric station in Železný Brod during a search of the home of one of the group’s founders. "I am one of the founders of this organization. It was founded by me, Filip Stránský and a person by the name of Jana," Sedláček told police. MfD has reviewed the transcripts of his interrogation. The professional soldier from the Tábor subdivision confessed to having trained about 30 people in hand‐to‐hand combat, with weapons and without them, and in attacks on both living and inanimate targets. He also trained them in techniques for setting cars on fire and destroying other property. Stránský claims he was responsible for managing the White Justice web servers. He is said to have received his instructions through the internet, but does not know who sent them. During the trainings and internet communication, anonymity was a condition of participation. Everyone presented themselves with nicknames only. "We only knew one another in very small groups in order to maintain secrecy. That way if one person was discovered, the rest of the organization would not be at risk,” Stránský said. Sedláček also testified that for the most part the individual members of the group do not know one another. In order to maintain secrecy, they communicate electronically on web servers located abroad, most of which were security coded. One is based in the USA and a second is based in Israel. "The WJ organization is here to do the dirty work. Today we know who the Jews and their minions are. It is unrealistic to get rid of the most highly‐placed Jew in just one week, but it is realistic to gradually rise up the pyramid of those who rule the earth to the very top,” an author nicknamed The Editor writes on the secret website. In an interview for MfD, Stránský admitted to using this name to access the web pages. Two weeks ago, police arrested part of this extremist group for promoting Nazism. "We have been following this group on the suspicion of preparing terrorist attacks,” Robert Šlachta, director of the Organized Crime Detection Unit (Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu ‐ ÚOOZ) said. 15 Dresden, « Swastika graffiti appears on the synagogue in Dresden » 9.11.2009 Swastika graffiti has appeared on the walls of the synagogue in Dresden. Unidentified perpetrators painted the graffiti on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, covering approximately six meters of brickwork. Police have confirmed the reports to DPA, which first heard the news on radio station MDR 1 out of Saxony. Heinz‐Joachim Aris, chair of the State Union of Jewish Communities in Saxony, said he was disgusted and frightened by the crime. He also said he does not understand how it could have happened, as the synagogue is usually guarded. The case is now being investigated by the Special Commission on Right‐wing Extremism as well as other police units evaluating the evidence. During Kristallnacht on the night of 9 November and the early morning hours of 10 November 1938, synagogues were set on fire throughout what was then the Third Reich. Hundreds of Jewish businesses, homes and cemeteries were also destroyed. The Nazi spree of violence took the lives of 400 people and marked the beginning of the systematic persecution and murder of the Jews. Saxony is one of the German states where right‐wing extremists are currently flourishing. The extreme‐right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) has supporters there and sits in the state parliament in Dresden. NPD deputies also sit in the parliament in the eastern state of Mecklenburg‐Upper Pomerania. 16 2. Justice and Neo‐Nazism A. Arrest Prague/ « Czech Police intervening against neo‐Nazi supporters, several arrested » Brno, 9.6.2009 Police in the Czech Republic are intervening against supporters of neo‐Nazism. Attorney Klára Slámová told ČTK that according to her information, police have arrested several people since this morning and are searching their cars and homes. The action allegedly concerns articles on the internet and concerts. Pavel Hanták, a spokesperson for the Organised Crime Detection Unit (Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu ‐ ÚOOZ) confirmed to ČTK that the action was underway but gave no details. According to information published on iDNES.cz, state prosecutors permitted searches of the flats of the top leadership of the militant National Resistance (Národní odpor) group, some of whom have already been arrested by ÚOOZ detectives. According to information obtained by the web server Romea.cz, a motion will be filed to take the neo‐Nazis into custody. Slámová said police officers have been contacting her since morning saying that the people whose homes they were searching had chosen her as their legal representative. “They were not able to tell me anything. What I understood from one of the clients was that this concerns some web pages, articles, and maybe concerts,” the attorney, who often represents right‐wing radicals, told ČTK. She estimates the action as concerning a minimum of 10 people. Romea.cz is informed it concerns as many as 20. Moreover, police are said to want to subpoena Slámová for interrogation regarding the concerts. "That is pure nonsense, why should I have to give them some sort of statement? Not to mention that I am bound by confidentiality," the attorney said. She said the prosecutor from the Brno – venkov district state attorney’s office wants to attend the interrogation. "This is an enormous attack on my person, it is simply unimaginable pressure," Slámová said, adding that the interrogation will take place this afternoon. "They want to make it impossible for me to defend those arrested by naming me as a witness,” she told TÝDEN.CZ. In Prague, detectives are interested in Lukáš Rod, singer with the groups Vlajka and Attack, as well as in Vilém Farkač and Martin Franěk, significant organizers of neo‐Nazi concerts in the Czech Republic, according to iDNES.cz. “We know of Lukáš Rod from National Resistance Prague, Vilém Farkáč of the neo‐Nazi groups Vlajka and Attack, Pavel Blinek of Hodonín, who sings for Devils Guard, and Martin Franěk of National Resistance Prague. Allegedly Tomáš Kebza has also been arrested," representatives of Antifa told TÝDEN.CZ. According to information on iDNES.cz, Franěk was arrested today. In 2006 he organized one of the largest concerts in recent years in Dražice, attended by around 300 neo‐Nazis. Several months ago he received a conditional sentence for his part in organizing a National Resistance demonstration in Brno in 2007. "As far as I know, the searches started at around 5 AM involving about 20 extreme‐right activists,” Mediafax quotes Filip Vávra, one of the leading figures of the neo‐Nazi National Resistance, as saying. 17 Most, « 15 neo‐Nazis arrested in Most at a rally, WP vice‐chair among them » 15.6.2009 Yesterday in Most, police arrested 15 participants in a neo‐Nazi march protesting the recent police raid against members of the National Resistance. Alena Bartošová, spokesperson for the Most police, told journalists that 14 of those arrested are suspected of misdemeanors and one is suspected of a felony. Petr Kotáb, the Workers’ Party vice‐chair, was among them. Kotáb collapsed during the arrest and police had to call him an ambulance. Police suspect one of those arrested of the felony charge of promoting Nazism. According to Bartošová, he was wearing Nazi patches on his clothing. “He was wearing neo‐Nazi symbols and is therefore suspected of committing the felony of promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms,” the police spokesperson confirmed to the Mediafax agency. According to the internet server iDNES.cz, the man was wearing a t‐shirt with the words “Národní odpor” (National Resistance), a Czech neo‐Nazi organization. Police suspect another protester of having committed a misdemeanor against civil co‐existence due to the slogans he was chanting. The rest are said to have committed a misdemeanor when they did not obey the orders of a public official. Bartošová said those arrested were taken to the police station where officers would interrogate them and probably release them later. The neo‐Nazi action was not announced to the authorities beforehand. The radicals gathered at around 16:00 in front of the train station in Most. Police estimated their number to be 50. At around 16:45 they tried to start their march, but a representative of the Most town hall dispersed the unannounced gathering. The extremists then separated into small groups which gradually met up again at several different places in the town before dispersing. The neo‐Nazis threatened people at the train station, including children. Clad in black, they yelled, “Cowards, you are hiding at home with the mommies and babies!” at passers‐by. Police lost patience after about two hours and intervened against the otherwise unmanageable group. Workers’ Party vice‐chair Petr Kotáb told police he was a journalist. "He was walking around in a journalist’s vest with PRESS written on it, because the Workers’ Party publishes its own paper. Nevertheless, it was evident he was there with the others. After his arrest something went wrong with his heart. An ambulance came for him," an MF DNES editor from Most said. According to a Czech Radio reporter, Kotáb was organizing the neo‐Nazis, telling them which routes to take and where to meet. The arrest was Kotáb’s second for a misdemeanor against the law on assembly. Police also arrested him in Prague for not obeying police orders. Almost the entire WP leadership was arrested during that incident. The police spokesperson did not say how many police officers had been deployed to the rally. “The police have enough forces and equipment to maintain public order,” she said. The neo‐Nazi gathering in Most was a protest against last Tuesday’s police action, code‐named “Power”, during which officers arrested 10 neo‐Nazis from the National Resistance. Police charged them with organizing concerts promoting Nazism and fascism. Five of them are in custody and another five were released on their own recognizance while the investigation continues. All face charges of the felony of promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. Participation by one of the highest representatives of the Workers’ Party at the neo‐Nazi rally once again shows the clear connection between the National Resistance and the party. Other people were seen among the neo‐Nazis who have regularly participated in provocations organized by the WP. 18 Neo‐Nazi actions attended by 30 people or less also took place yesterday in Pardubice, Písek and Plzeň. More neo‐Nazi gatherings are announced for today in Kopřivnice and Litvínov. In Plzeň, about 25 neo‐Nazis met yesterday, where they were outnumbered by police four to one. City officials dispersed the unannounced gathering. The demonstrators, accompanied by police, then left for the train station. One was arrested and taken to the police station over symbols on his clothing; an expert will determine whether he has committed a felony or not. Yesterday radicals also gathered in Písek. About 30 people marched across Alšovo náměstí and the historical stone bridge there after 15:00. Along the way they chanted the slogans “Freedom for Political Prisoners”, “Police Trial” and “Police State”. The march ended on the riverbank in front of the police station. On Saturday evening, police arrested three men at a neo‐Nazi protest on náměstí Míru in Zlín. Two of those arrested were neo‐Nazi opponents and one was a neo‐Nazi. In Hodonín a neo‐Nazi concert was planned for Saturday. According to information from the Hodonín police, however, the concert was not held in the end, and police merely checked the identities of the fans of the movement who arrived at the site. Very few people attended the other Saturday neo‐Nazi actions, which were outnumbered by police, who simply followed the provocations. There were protest marches on Saturday in Havlíčkův Brod, Jablonec nad Nisou, and Mladá Boleslav. All 10 men charged with organizing concerts are members of the neo‐Nazi National Resistance. Their arrest was the culmination of more than one year of work by detectives on the organization of concerts at which the ideas of neo‐Nazism, nationalism, racism and xenophobia are said to be disseminated. The National Resistance movement has also allegedly been promoted at these concerts, which is based on the ideas of “white supremacy” and anti‐Semitism, espouses the National Socialist ideology and uses symbols and color combinations which refer to Hitler’s Germany. Those arrested face up to eight years in prison. In relation to the intervention, police are providing protection to the 12‐year‐old son of Czech PM Jan Fischer and the family of Interior Minister Martin Pecina. Police say the measure is a preventive one. Plzeň, « Fifty neo‐Nazis celebrate in Plzeň, police arrest two people » 26.7.2009 Two people suspected of committing the crime of supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms were arrested by police officers in the early morning hours today in Plzeň. Approximately 50 neo‐Nazis had gathered for a celebration at a local restaurant. According to police, during the party a song celebrating the National Resistance (Národní odpor) organization was performed, so the commander of the police intervention decided to shut the music production down. Police then verified the identities of those present and arrested the two people who were running the music production. Police spokesperson Martina Zoubková informed ČTK of the incident. "We will also be researching the criminal liability of the organizers of this event,” Zoubková said. Police received information that the neo‐Nazis would be celebrating the first anniversary of the founding of a neo‐Nazi cell at the restaurant. ČTK has determined that the group involved was apparently the Autonomous Nationalists of Plzeň, which has participated in the organization of marches by right‐wing radicals through the town. "Police officers monitored what was going on at the restaurant. Around 21:00 they began a search of the premises and determined that a live music production was underway,” Zoubková said. At the time a song was being performed with lyrics celebrating the neo‐Nazi organization National Resistance. 19 The police commander decided to shut the music production down and police officers then verified the identities of everyone present. Approximately 50 people were present, most of them with permanent residence in Plzeň or its surroundings. Almost 60 police officers were deployed for the event. ČTK reports police officers also found clothing decorated with images promoting the movement which was most probably intended for sale. They also discovered print‐outs of the song lyrics. Birmingham, « British police arrest 90 after clashes between extremists and their opponents » 8.9.2009 On Saturday, British police arrested 90 right‐wing radicals and their opponents after racially motivated violence was committed in Birmingham, AP reported yesterday. All those arrested are said to be men aged between 16 and 39. The English Defense League held a protest gathering in Birmingham on Saturday against the allegedly rising “Islamic threat” in Britain. The protest turned violent when anti‐fascist activists and youth of South Asian origin organized a counter‐demonstration. Police say about 200 people from both protest gatherings engaged one another in violent clashes. The ratio of right‐wing extremists to those opposing them was not clear. Television footage showed masked demonstrators throwing firecrackers, bottles, cobblestones and bricks, including at the police. The situation was monitored by a police helicopter and riot units were called in, according to the BBC. Birmingham, one‐third of the residents of which are not white, experienced similar violence in August. The English Defense League has said the group Unite against Fascism was to blame. The League has announced it does not intend to stop holding protest marches and will hold another one in October in Manchester. The BBC reports that activists writing on anti‐fascist websites are criticizing the police and town leadership for permitting the right‐wing extremist gatherings. Brno, « Constitutional Court rejects complaint from alleged neo‐Nazi now in custody » 10.9.2009 The Constitutional Court has rejected a complaint filed by one of the 10 alleged neo‐Nazis currently in custody who were arrested during a large police raid on the extremist scene in June. The imprisoned man claimed there were no grounds for his ongoing detention. Judges did not review the complaint in detail but rejected it as evidently unfounded. ČTK reported on the case yesterday after the decision was published in the court’s database. The court did not publish the full name of the plaintiff, just the initials M. F. He was sent into custody in June by the District Court for Brno‐venkov, and the decision was upheld in July by the Regional Court in Brno. His complaint to the Constitutional Court claimed the reasoning of both court decisions was insufficient. The alleged right‐wing extremist requested preferential handling of his complaint, which the judges granted. They did not accept his arguments and did not find that his fundamental rights had been violated. "In this particular case it is relevant, from a constitutional law point of view, that courts at both levels have already addressed the legality of this criminal prosecution, and not only in the formal sense,” the court ruling reads. In June, police arrested 10 people during a raid on those connected to extremist groups and charged them with promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. The raid was the result of several months of work by the Organized Crime Detection Unit (Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu ‐ ÚOOZ) on the extremist scene. The investigation is said to have concerned musical performances organized since April 2008. 20 The defendants, representatives of the National Resistance (Národní odpor) organization, face up to eight years in prison for planning 11 concerts at which Nazism was allegedly promoted. Each one is said to have contributed to organizing the events in some way. The defendants say they have committed no crimes. In response to the arrest of the 10 right‐wing extremists, protests were held by other extremists in Brno, Chomutov, Karlovy Vary, Olomouc and Ostrava in the days following the raid. Another protest has been called by the neo‐Nazis for this Saturday in front of the Brno prison where the defendants are being held. Ostrava, « Vítkov arson suspect and WP sponsor allegedly part of brutal attack in Rýmařov » 13.9.2009 David Vaculík, one of the suspects in the arson attack on a Roma family in Vítkov, was allegedly involved with other neo‐Nazis in a brutal attack in Rýmařov, North Moravia last year. The case is being handled by the court in Bruntál, reports news server Aktuálně.cz. The media have also recently reported that Vaculík is a repeated longtime sponsor of the neo‐Nazi Workers’ Party (Dělnická strana). Vaculík and Tomáš Vassiov, a neo‐Nazi from Opava who had a criminal record at the time, are suspected of last year’s incident at the Erna club in Rýmařov. A group of masked assailants threw smoke bombs into the club during a rock concert and then physically assaulted concertgoers as they fled the building. "The assailants were armed with sticks and other weapons,” Bruntál police spokesperson Pavla Tušková said at the time. An 18‐year‐old male was hospitalized as a result. "The next hearing in this matter was to have been on 7 September, but we had to postpone it because defendant Vaculík must have a public defender assigned to him following the charges against him for the attack in Vítkov," Bruntál Judge Vladimíra Kikerlová said. In 2003, Vassiov was sentenced to five years in prison for one of the most serious racist attacks in recent years in the Moravian‐Silesian region. In June 2001, he and other racists attacked three Roma from Ostrava. The racists selected their victims randomly on a tram and attacked them unprovoked beneath an underpass, kicking them, stabbing them and shooting at them with gas pistols. One Roma man was stabbed four times, twice in his lungs. He survived the attack by sheer good luck, reports Aktuálně.cz. The main defendant, Vassiov, at first confessed to police that he had stabbed the Roma man, but later retracted his confession. He was charged with racially motivated attempted murder, but due to a lack of evidence was eventually sentenced only for grievous bodily harm. He served only three years of his sentence before being released on probation. Prior to the 2001 attack, he had been sentenced twice before for racially motivated crimes. After his release from prison, Vassiov was active in the neo‐Nazi movement once again. Police have charged four alleged neo‐Nazis from Opava and Horní Benešov in connection with the Vítkov arson attack. According to the information currently available, police have charged a right‐wing extremist active in the Moravian‐Silesian region, Jaromír Lukeš of Opava, with attempted murder, as well as Václav Cojocaru, Ivo Müller, and David Vaculík of Horní Benešov. All four neo‐Nazis have very frequently participated in events organized by National Corporativism (Národní korporativism), National Resistance (Národní odpor) and the Workers’ Party. Arsonists attacked the home of a Roma family in Vítkov in the early morning hours of 19 April, throwing three Molotov cocktails into the building. The subsequent blaze completely destroyed the house. 21 Three people of the nine‐member family suffered burns: Anna Siváková, Petr Kudrik, and their two‐
year‐old daughter Natálka, who suffered burns over 80 % of her body. Her condition is gradually improving, even though it remains serious. All those charged are members of the extreme right and are facing 12 – 15 years in prison or perhaps even extraordinary sentencing. Prague, « Second nationwide raid against neo‐Nazis in the Czech Republic » 21.10.2009
Police have once again taken action against neo‐Nazis in various places around the Czech Republic, performing house searches in at least seven apartments since the early morning hours. Attorney Kolja Kubíček, who represents some of the extremists, referred to information on the raid from the Organized Crime Detection Unit (Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu ‐ÚOOZ) when speaking to ČTK today. The raid is allegedly related to concerts organized by right‐wing radicals. As with the previous case of arrests of right‐wing extremists in June of this year, the warrant for the house searches was issued by the Brno ‐ venkov district state attorney’s office, Kubíček said. In June, ÚOOZ detectives arrested and subsequently charged 10 people. "It is therefore probable that a new wave of arrests of allegedly right‐wing adherents has begun,” the attorney said. Kubíček is representing several of those arrested in the first raid. A ÚOOZ communication made available to ČTK says the detectives have also carried out raids since 5:00 AM today in the Strašnice and Vinohrady quarters of Prague, the town of Hodonín, and in České Budějovice. "I can confirm that several actions are taking place which the detectives have been working on for a long time,” ÚOOZ spokesperson Pavel Hanták told ČTK today, adding that he could not give any further details at this time. Police will allegedly release more details at the start of next week at the very earliest. Romea.cz has learned that a house search has also been conducted in the Prague apartment of Jíří Bárta, chair of the Worker’s Party branch in Vlašim. After the June raid, police charged all 10 of those arrested with promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. The raid was the culmination of several months of work by the ÚOOZ in the area of the extremist scene. According to the police, the 10 men arrested were members of the neo‐Nazi National Resistance. They are alleged to have organized 11 concerts since April of last year with the awareness that the performers and audience members would be spreading the ideas of neo‐Nazism, racism, and xenophobia at them and that they would promote the National Resistance movement. Those charged deny committing any crimes. Song lyrics at these concerts allegedly celebrated the Third Reich, anti‐Semitism and racial purity. Police also say the musicians called on the audience to yell the slogans "Heil Hitler" or "Sieg Heil". Those charged face between three and eight years in prison for supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. After the June arrests, a series of protests were held by nationalists in various places throughout the country. The most recent demonstration involved about 30 people in front of the Office of the Government in Prague. In September, 150 extreme‐right adherents protested in front of the Brno prison where five of those charged in June are now in custody. The National Resistance webpage claims the police proceeded illegally during the June arrests of the group by intentionally demolis‐
hing furniture, threatening the families of those arrested, and acting unnecessarily brutally even though they faced no resistance. The Czech government is also trying to take steps against extremism in the Czech Republic; the Interior Ministry has prepared a second proposal to abolish the Workers’ Party. Accordin to the government’s motion, the party is intentionally provoking tension in society, offending minorities and posing an immediate threat to the democratic order. The materials demonstrate that the party is connected to the neo‐Nazi movement. 22 Various party members and candidates, according to the documentation, have participated in neo‐
Nazi concerts and events and have either worked for National Resistance, the Autonomous Nationalists, National Corporativism and other ultra‐right groups in the past or are working for them now. Party chair Tomáš Vandas has called the government motion a 'bushel of lies'. The previous cabinet also proposed abolishing the Workers’ Party, but the Supreme Administrative Court did not grant the motion. According to the court, the proposal did not present sufficient arguments for such a serious intervention as dissolving the party. Prague, « Czech Police arrest 24 in raid against neo‐Nazis, including a Serbian national » 22.10.2009 Robert Šlachta, head of the Organized Crime Detection Unit (Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu ‐ ÚOOZ) told ČTK that police arrested 24 people during yesterday’s raid against members of the extreme right suspected of supporting and promoting movements aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. Šlachta rejected speculation that the raid had been ordered politically. "Police officers from the ÚOOZ ... with the agreement of the supervising state attorneys, performed a series of house searches in several places around the country as part of three separate criminal proceedings,” Šlachta said. He emphasized that the raid had “no connection with any proceedings before the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic". This court is set to review a government proposal to abolish the extreme‐right Workers’ Party in the near future. Yesterday, Workers’ Party chair Tomáš Vandas labeled the police raid a “desperate attempt” to find evidence of illegal behavior by the party’s members and sympathizers. Last night at around 23:00 police released two women who had been arrested during the raid without charging them, their attorney Kolja Kubíček told ČTK. The women had been interrogated, but the suspicions of their involvement were not enough to charge them with any crimes; Kubíček said the suspicions were fabricated. As Romea.cz reported yesterday, police arrested a group of neo‐Nazi women allegedly due to their membership in the Czech organization Resistance Women Unity (RWU). The group’s mission is to strengthen opposition to a system which in their view is “targeted against the long‐term survival of white families”. RWU representatives regularly speak at public neo‐Nazi gatherings. As many as 100 neo‐Nazis protested the police raid yesterday evening in front of the Office of the Government and the police headquarters in Bartolomějská street, where several of those arrested were taken. Tomorrow the police will hold a press conference at which they will release more details. ROMEA TV will broadcast coverage of the conference. ČTK reported yesterday that leading Serbian neo‐Nazi Dragan Petrović is among those arrested. According to Ondřej Cakl of Tolerance a občanská společnost (Tolerance and Civil Society), which has long monitored the ultra‐right scene, Petrović is the head of the Serbian branch of the militant international neo‐Nazi organization Blood and Honor. The server iDNES.cz reported yesterday that Petrovic has been living for some time in Prague but was arrested at the Vltava housing estate in České Budějovice, where 10 police officers raided an apartment yesterday morning. Police also confiscated several bags of unknown material from the apartment. At 5:30 AM yesterday a commando unit raided the home of 30‐year‐old Kamil Víta, guitarist for the neo‐Nazi group Imperium, a White Power group, according to Cakl. Víta’s girlfriend said masked men yelling “police” busted through the door of the apartment looking for neo‐Nazi materials and confiscated a computer. "He would go to a concert from time to time,” the woman told the daily paper MF DNES. Josef Šedina was another White Power musician arrested, according to Cakl. Romea.cz has been informed that a house search was also conducted in the Prague apartment of Jíří Bárta, chair of the Workers’ Party section in Vlašim. Police were primarily interested in his girlfriend, Eva Bittmanová; they did not arrest Bárta, but had him sign a protocol at the station. 23 When asked why the police conducted a search of his home, Bárta said he did not know. In mid‐August, Bárta organized a meeting of extreme‐right adherents in Nový Knín. The government motion to dissolve the Workers’ Party names him as a representative of National Resistance. Police also searched the apartment of another Workers’ Party leader, Patrik Vondrák, whom they arrested. Jiří Bárta confirmed the arrest to ČTK and said police had a warrant for Vondrák. Workers’ Youth vice‐chair Matyáš Sombati is also said to have been arrested. Workers’ Party chair Tomáš Vandas said Sombati’s computer, including a database of Workers’ Youth members, was confiscated, as were other personal effects. The on‐line daily TÝDEN.CZ reported yesterday that the police searches evidently also concerned people who actively participated in the protests at the Janov housing estate in Litvínov last year. Prague, « Men who attacked former Czech PM were among the neo‐Nazis on 17 November » 19.11.2009 Martin Hofman and Martin Kuferský, two of the four men who attacked ODS party chair and former Czech PM Mirek Topolánek in August, were part of a boat ride in Prague on 17 November organized by neo‐Nazis from the “Resist!” initiative. Police had to intervene against the 100 neo‐Nazis after they disembarked near the Výtoň tram stop. Some of the same people who work for the “Resist!” initiative are connected to National Resistance. The founder of the initiative is Jiří Bárta, who is the chair of the local Workers’ Party organization in Vlašim and ran on their ticket the 2008 regional elections. The initiative holds demonstrations demanding the release of neo‐Nazis in custody as a result of the recent police roundup, called operation “Power”. Neo‐Nazis planned a total of three events for Tuesday, 17 November. At 13:30 supporters of the “Resist!” initiative boarded a boat heading for the city center; at 14:00 Workers’ Party sympathizers met on Národní třída; and at 16:00 a National Resistance demonstration was meant to take place. However, the neo‐Nazis did not manage the situation organizationally and never succeeded in joining their forces into a single large crowd. Police separated the groups from one another and intervened against them near the Výtoň tram stop. According to photographs available to Romea.cz, Kuferský was one of the neo‐Nazis who resisted the police there. Former Czech PM Topolánek was attacked on 21 August while leaving a swimming pool in Hustopečíce. Hofman and Kuferský said they were offered a total deposit of CZK 50 000 to attack him and payments of CZK 40 000 afterward. Whether the men actually received the deposit is not known and the money has never been found. The assailants said the attack was ordered by someone unknown to them, but were unable to tell the police anything further. Police officers have been unable to discover who ordered the attack on Topolánek, but did rule out the possibility that it was someone in his own party. According to Antifa.cz, Kuferský was very active during the 1990s. "He participated in the attack by a large group of Nazi skinheads on the Branická žízeň punk festival in 1991. In March 1992 he also figured in an attempt to attack the anarchist demonstration on the anniversary of the Nazi German occupation of Czechoslovakia," Antifa.cz reports. Hofman and Kuferský worked security at the funeral of the murdered entrepreneur Václav Kočka, Jr for the VIP Service agency, owned by Zdeněk Zahradník. However, both the Kočka family and Zahradník deny having hired their services. 24 Moscow, « Neo‐Nazis claim responsibility for terrorist attack on Russian train » 29.11.2009 Friday’s crash of a Russian express train between Moscow and Saint Petersburg was caused by a terrorist attack. The Russian Prosecutor‐General and the Russian secret service say remnants of explosives have been found at the scene of the tragedy. The Echo of Moscow radio station reports that the neo‐Nazi organization Combat 18 has claimed responsibility for the incident. However, analysts contacted by other Russian media say the neo‐Nazi claim is not credible and may just be a publicity attempt. Sources vary on the number of those left dead and injured after part of the train derailed. Initial estimates range from 26 – 39 killed and 60 – 96 injured, but the final figures are expected to be higher. The Czech and Slovak representations in Moscow say that so far there seem to have been no Czech or Slovak citizens among the dead or injured. On Friday night, Russian rail management hypothesized the accident might have been caused by a bomb on the tracks. Yesterday afternoon, Reuters reported that Russian secret service head Alexandr Bortnikov had confirmed to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that the accident had been caused by a bomb. The explosion is said to have been caused by the equivalent of seven kilograms of TNT. Sources cited by the RIA Novosti agency say the Nevsky Express accident was caused by an explosion beneath the ninth of its 13 cars. Interfax reports that the four cars at the end of the train derailed after the explosion and one car was completely demolished. Many of the dozens hospitalized after the accident are said to be seriously injured. Russian Railways Director Vladimir Yakunin said that yesterday afternoon another, weaker bomb exploded at almost exactly the same location. No one was killed or injured and nothing was damaged. About 1 000 people, including emergency medical services personnel and police officers, intervened at the accident site late Friday night and early Saturday morning. Russian authorities announced that the clearing work was completed during the evening hours and that the main workload now lies with doctors treating the wounded. Police have shut down access to the scene of the tragedy and started searching for suspects in the neighborhood. Yesterday evening the Russian Interior Ministry announced it suspected several persons of the attack but did not specify their identities except to say that one is a male around 40 years old. The Nevsky Express, which runs on one of the main Russian lines from Moscow to Saint Petersburg, derailed into the forest in terrain that is difficult to access. The accident occurred between the villages of Lykoshino and Uglovka, about 25 km from the Bologoye train stop, near the administrative border between the Novgorod and Tversk regions of the Russian Federation. AP reports that at the moment of the accident there were around 630 passengers and 20 crew members on board. Even though the Czech and Slovak representations in Russia do not have complete information about the passengers, yesterday a Czech Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed that none of the victims are likely to be Czech. "We are determining this, we have contacted the Russian authorities, but for the time being we do not have any such information available,” Hynek Pejcha, chargé d'affaires at the Czech Embassy told ČTK. “We have contacted the Russian authorities and according to them, no Slovak citizens are among the injured or dead passengers who have been identified,” Slovak Consul Otília Kállayová told ČTK. 25 In Russia, passengers must show their passports when purchasing train tickets, so the authorities do have passenger lists available. The Vesti 24 television station reported that foreigners were among the passengers. Interfax reported that three foreigners were injured on the train, one from Azerbaijan, one from Belgium, and one from Italy. The Italian Foreign Ministry has confirmed that an Italian citizen was injured. President Medvedev is involved in the case and summoned an extraordinary meeting of selected ministers to review the accident. He expressed his condolences to the victims’ families and arranged for the appropriate authorities to provide immediate aid to those affected and to investigate the accident as quickly as possible. Condolences over the accident were sent to Moscow by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Polish PM Donald Tusk, the Swedish EU presidency, Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko, and the White House. Czech PM Jan Fischer also sent a telegram of condolence to Russian PM Vladimir Putin. A train derailed on the same line two years ago on 13 August 2007. At the time the cause of the accident was also said to have been an explosion on the tracks. About 60 people were injured and the incident was said to be a terrorist attack. The Novgorod Prosecutor said at the time that a group controlled by Doku Umarov, Chechnya’s most famous terrorist, had exploded the bomb. The case is now before the court and the two defendants face up to 20 years in jail. 26 B. Trial and Jail Prague, « Prosecution of 10 neo‐Nazis over concerts apparently moving forward » 25.7.2009 The criminal prosecution of 10 neo‐Nazis for organizing concerts at which Nazism and fascism were allegedly promoted seems to be continuing. Several days ago the state prosecutor allegedly rejected complaints filed by all of those charged against the decision to prosecute them. The men face from three to eight years in prison for supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. The rejection of the complaints can be inferred from a decision published on the web by Tomáš Pecina, allegedly a co‐worker of the attorney for one of the accused. ČTK was unable to verify the information with the state prosecutor. Pecina also previously published the text of the original decision to initiate prosecution of the 10 men; police confirmed its validity at the time. According to police, all 10 of the men charged are members of the neo‐Nazi National Resistance (Národní odpor) group. Since April of last year they have allegedly organized 11 concerts with the awareness that the performers and audience were spreading the ideas of neo‐Nazism, racism and xenophobia at them and that the National Resistance movement was being promoted at them. Lyrics of the songs performed allegedly celebrated the Third Reich, anti‐Semitism, and racial purity. Police also say musicians called on the audiences to yell "Heil Hitler" or "Sieg Heil". In response to the June arrest of the 10 men, radicals held events in several towns which were attended by dozens of people. Yesterday another protest event took place in Prague, at which roughly 40 neo‐Nazis met in front of the police station on Na Perštýně street in Prague. Police and an anti‐conflict team monitored the gathering, which was convened by the ultra‐right Autonomous Nationalists. The radicals unfurled a banner reading “Freedom” in front of the police station. Police officers asked some of those present to show proof of identity. Prague Police spokesperson Tomáš Hulan told ČTK that the demonstrators had violated the law on assembly and committed a misdemeanor by unfurling the banner. The extreme‐right adherents chanted slogans such as: "Freedom for political prisoners,” “Let our people go,” and “Police state”. Some of them passed out fliers to passers‐by. After roughly 15 minutes they set off with the banner and marched chanting to Wenceslas Square, arriving at roughly 18:45. They then ended the protest. According to the document which Pecina has publicized, the state prosecutor rejected the complaint against the prosecution as unjustified and found that the prosecution had been initiated in accordance with the law. The state prosecutor also says the facts on which the charges are based have been sufficiently determined. The radicals reject the charges, according to the document. Many of them are said to claim not to be members or representatives of the neo‐Nazi movement in general nor of the National Resistance in particular. However, the prosecutor does not agree. "The evidence presented shows the opposite,” the document reads, adding that one of the men, evidently Martin Franěk, head of the Hate Core Shop, was even sentenced once before for promoting the National Resistance. Some of the concerts are said to have been presented by their organizers as events held by the National Resistance or its “units”. The membership in the National Resistance of those charged, according to the document, is clear from the materials confiscated during the searches of the suspects’ homes. 27 Many of those charged allegedly also pointed out that police monitored many of the concerts concerned and that police spokespeople had afterward told the media no laws had been broken during them. However, the state prosecutor said that with the exception of officers with the Organized Crime Detection Unit (Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu ‐ ÚOOZ), not all of the events concerned had in fact been monitored by police. When police officers were present at an event, they are said not to have been directly inside the performance venues, which made it difficult for them to follow the participants’ statements. However, ÚOOZ detectives allegedly gathered evidence while the events were underway. According to several radicals, the lyrics of the songs which police claimed were performed were either never actually performed or do not promote what the police claim they promote. According to the document, five of those charged said “promotion of the so‐called Third Reich, which no longer exists and cannot therefore be promoted, is not conducted by the National Resistance movement." The prosecutor does not agree with this claim either. "It is sufficient if the expressions under consideration include indications of support for or promotion of a fascist, racist, Nazi or xenophobic ideology, and the ideas and attitudes of the movement concerned fully correspond to such an ideology. It is also enough for expressions to receive a positive response from the promoters of such movements, as demonstrated through mass participation in the events under consideration,” the text says. According to the document, those charged also claim they did not know in advance how people would behave at the concerts, had no influence over their behavior, never called on any of them to do anything, and did their best to prevent problems. According to the state prosecutor, however, the organizers did not do enough. Those charged are said to have never rejected the allegedly illegal behavior when it occurred; similar behavior occurred at many concerts and the organizers could not help but have perceived it, the text reads. Frýdek‐ « Neo‐Nazi paroled after brutal attack on Roma man » Místek, 3.9.2009 Yesterday 21‐year‐old neo‐Nazi Jaroslav Kořínek, who brutally attacked a 22‐year‐old Roma man on New Year’s Day at a disco in Frýdek‐Místek, was given a three‐year conditional sentence to be served on parole. The verdict said the attack, during which Kořínek broke the victim’s rib, was racially motivated, Deník.cz reports. The attack occurred at approximately 3 AM on New Year’s Day. The two‐meter‐tall racist began his indiscriminate assault on a randomly selected Roma youth, whom he did not know, yelling that he hated him and that he was a “black gob”. “Black pig, you are not welcome here,” the neo‐Nazi raved. During the brutal attack he also yelled the Nazi slogan “Sieg Heil” at least twice and gave the Nazi salute. Kořínek was wearing armored boots and a jacket with a white eagle and a swastika on it at the time. After the verbal attack he is said to have kneed the much smaller Roma man in the face and thrown him to the ground, where he kicked him at least once in the head and several times in the chest. Kořínek was sentenced for attempted mayhem, rioting, and supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. “The accused was looking for trouble. His behavior was serious, this is really an extreme matter,” the presiding judge said. Deník.cz reports that the court considered a four‐year prison sentence for the youth, who has no prior record and is resuming his high school studies. “In the end we are of the opinion that we should give him a chance,” the judge said. The judge emphasized that Kořínek will have to follow appropriate restrictions during a five‐year probationary period. “You will not visit gaming parlors, bars or discotheques for the next five years,” he told the convict. Kořínek will be allowed to order food in commercial establishments but will not be permitted to consume alcohol in public. 28 A probation officer will monitor his behavior during this time. “You will either correct your behavior by the time you are 26 or you will go to prison for three years,” the judge said, adding that the slightest infraction on Kořínek’s part would result in a public hearing, “the purple bus and departure for Ostrava.” Kořínek agreed with the decision. The state prosecutor, who wanted to send him to prison, will consider whether to appeal the verdict. “The relationship of this attack to his Nazi and neo‐Nazi opinions is completely obvious and significant. We see similar people on our television screens every day,” the prosecutor warned. In his view, the rising numbers of racist attacks are increasing tension in society and are completely unacceptable. Kořínek will have to pay the victim CZK 2 400, Deník.cz reports. Prague, 4.9.2009 « Neo‐Nazis publish home address of BIS agent working on Vítkov case » Former Security and Information Services (Bezpečnostní a informační služby ‐ BIS) agent Vladimír Hučín has released the home address of the BIS agent on the team that participated in investigating the arson case in Vítkov. Information about the agent’s home address reached people from the neo‐Nazi National Resistance (Národní odpor) movement, which has published it on its web page, the daily Právo reports. BIS is unable to take steps against Hučín because membership in the secret service is not classified information under Czech law. Hučín published the home address of the head of the Olomouc counterintelligence team, Jan Princ, whom he knows from his time at BIS. Princ is also said to have testified in the long drawn‐out Hučín case. "This is a grave violation of privacy," BIS spokesperson Jan Šubert said. However, he said BIS knows how to provide security for its people. Hučín has undergone prosecution on several charges of which he was later acquitted. He was suspected during the 1990s of having encouraged left‐wing extremist activity in order to later warn that it was a threat. Police have charged four men, all around 25 years of age, with racially motivated attempted murder in the case of the April arson attack on a Roma family in Vítkov. All those charged are members of the extreme right. Prague, « Czech police charge 18 neo‐Nazis, some allegedly preparing a terrorist attack » 23.10.2009 Detectives from the Organized Crime Detection Unit (Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu ‐ ÚOOZ) have charged a total of 18 people with supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms after house searches conducted Wednesday. One man and one woman remain in custody. ÚOOZ head Robert Šlachta made the announcement at a press conference today, adding that neither the number of those charged nor the extent of the charges are necessarily final. He also said this is the first time officers have ever suspected extreme‐right adherents of preparing a terrorist attack. Wednesday’s raid, during which officers arrested a total of 24 people, concerned three separate criminal cases. The first one involved police arresting 12 people in Dobříš, Prague, Tábor and several other towns who are allegedly linked to the neo‐Nazi organization White Justice. The ÚOOZ has determined that this organization is connected to National Resistance and aims to spread the ultra‐right ideology through violence. Of the 12 people arrested, police charged 10 and released them on their own recognizance. In the second case, officers arrested six people in Kladno and in Prague and subsequently charged two of them with allegedly distributing materials promoting National Resistance. 29 As Romea.cz reported earlier, they are Patrik Vondrák, leader of the Workers’ Party in Prague, and Michaela Dupová, head of the neo‐Nazi organization Resistance Women Unity (RWU). The third case concerns six people who have allegedly participated in organizing 14 White Power concerts. They were also released on their own recognizance. Bruntál, « Neo‐Nazis sentenced for attacking a concert in Rýmařov » 5.11.2009 Yesterday the District Court in Bruntál sentenced two right‐wing extremists for attacking the audience of a heavy metal concert in Rýmařov. Tomáš Vassiov received a two‐year sentence without parole. David Vaculík, who is also suspected of having perpetrated the arson attack in Vítkov, was sentenced to six months on parole. More perpetrators were involved in the attack, but police never succeeded in proving their identities. "They were wearing balaclavas. All of the suspects denied having been at the scene," state prosecutor Kateřina Krčová said after the verdict was announced. However, Vassiov and Vaculík were condemned by mobile phone call records, according to which they made phone calls at the scene of the crime both during its commission and immediately afterward. Both defendants refused to testify. "I have nothing to do with this," Vassiov said. "There is no evidence against me," Vaculík said. Both have appealed the verdict. The state prosecutor has asked for time to consider whether the state will appeal as well. Judge Vladimíra Kikerlová said the defendants’ behavior was very dangerous to society. "This was an organized, planned action,” she said. When asked about the charges against Vaculík in the Vítkov case, Kikerlová said she could not be influenced by any other criminal proceedings. Vaculík had previously received a suspended sentence for a similar attack on a different club, but since he has never done jail time, Kikerlová did not consider him to have a felony record. However, she said he is prone to violence and that the level of his violence is increasing. Václav Cojocaru testified as a witness yesterday. State prosecutor Krčová said one of the suspects called Cojocaru’s number from Rýmařov during and after the attack. Cojocaru also faces charges for the arson attack in Vítkov together with Vaculík and two other extremists. He has confessed to his part in the arson, but claims he did not know anyone was living in the house. Just before midnight on 25 October 2008, approximately 20 masked assailants attacked the Erna restaurant in Rýmařov, where a rock concert was taking place. One of the assailants threw a tear gas grenade into the audience, which began to flee through the front door. Temporarily blinded by their tears, the audience members were then attacked by masked neo‐Nazis with sticks, brass knuckles, collapsible nightsticks and other weapons. The assailants then jumped into their cars and drove off. One victim, an 18‐year‐old youth, was hospitalized in Bruntál. The tear gas also leaked into a residential hostel on the upper floors of the building, so firefighters had to evacuate seven residents and air out the space. In 2003, Vassiov was sentenced to five years in prison for a racially motivated attack. Together with other racists, he attacked three Roma in Ostrava in June 2001. The assailants randomly selected their victims on a tram and attacked them for no reason in a pedestrian underpass, kicking them, stabbing them with knives and shooting at them with a gas pistol. One of the Roma was stabbed four times, twice in the lung area, surviving the attack by pure chance. Vassiov spent three years in prison and was then released on parole. The attack in Rýmařov occurred while he was still on parole. He had also been sentenced twice prior to that for racially motivated crimes. After his release from prison, he has always actively rejoined the neo‐Nazi movement. 30 Police have charged four neo‐Nazis from the Bruntál area in connection with the arson attack in Vítkov. In addition to David Vaculík and Ivo Műller, who are from Horní Benešov, the other suspects are Jaromír Lukeš and Václav Cojocaru of Opava. All four have frequently participated in events convened by National Corporativism, National Resistance or the Workers’ Party. They have almost always turned up in the company of Tomáš Vassiov, who is considered one of the main initiators and organizers of extremist actions in the Czech Republic. Media reports say Vaculík has repeatedly sponsored the neo‐Nazi Workers’ Party over the long term. The arsonists attacked the home of a Roma family in Vítkov during the early morning hours of 19 April, throwing three Molotov cocktails into the building. The subsequent blaze completely destroyed the house. Of the nine‐member family, three people were injured: Anna Siváková, Pavel Kudrik, and their two‐year‐old daughter Natálka, who suffered burns over 80 % of her body. The suspects face between 12 to 15 years in prison and perhaps even extraordinary sentencing. Prague, « Czech Defense Minister orders dismissal of soldier linked to neo‐Nazis » 6.11.2009 Lukáš Sedláček, a career member of the Czech military who is said to have co‐founded the neo‐Nazi organization White Justice, will be dismissed from the Czech Army. Czech Defense Minister Martin Barták made the announcement yesterday. "I am familiar with this particular case. I personally gave the order to initiate the necessary steps to immediately end his service,” Barták wrote in a statement released to ČTK. The Minister considers the matter to be very serious. "Because of similar excesses, we have been advocating for an amendment to the law on career military which will facilitate appropriate recourse in cases of extremism in the Army, whether right‐wing or left‐wing,” he said. Yesterday’s Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) reported that the extremist organization White Justice has been preparing terrorist attacks and planning the abductions of police officers and “highly placed Jews”. At training camps their members have learned how to destroy property, set cars on fire and fight both with weapons and without them. Training and communications took place in strict secrecy. MfD reports its sources are a secret neo‐Nazi website and the testimonies of the founding members of White Justice, Filip Stránský and the soldier Sedláček. MfD reports that Stránský is evidently the head of the whole organization or is at least considered to be the head by several of its members. He denies a leading role. The organization arranged a total of four training camps (so‐called “fight camps”) at which Sedláček taught those interested the basics of attacking specific people or buildings. "I am one of the founders of this organization. It was founded by me, Filip Stránský and a person by the name of Jana," Sedláček told police. MfD has reviewed the transcripts of his interrogation. The professional soldier from the Tábor subdivision confessed to having trained about 30 people in hand‐to‐hand combat, with weapons and without them, and in attacks on both living and inanimate targets. He also trained them in techniques for setting cars on fire and destroying other property. 31 Berlin, « Court in Germany sends operator of neo‐Nazi radio to prison » 1.12.2009 Yesterday in Germany a state‐level court in Berlin sent the operator of a German neo‐Nazi internet radio station to prison for two years and nine months. The radio station broadcast hateful slogans on the web against foreigners and Jews, as well as instructions on how to produce bombs. DPA reports judges sentenced the 24–year‐old man for inciting hatred against other nationalities and belonging to a criminal group. Six of the radio operators’ supporters also received verdicts ranging from one year to two years and five months behind bars. Those sentenced include a 31‐year‐old woman who worked for the Lower Saxony Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In her case the court gave consideration to the fact that the institution where she worked learned of the extremist internet radio station rather quickly. DPA did not report whether the verdicts have taken effect yet or not. 32 3. Struggling Neo Nazism A. Understand the functioning Prague, « iDNES.cz: Neo‐Nazis operate like a business, sending money to those in prison » 20.6.200 The web server iDNES.cz reports that, according to detectives from the Organized Crime Detection Unit (Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu – ÚOOZ), the 10 neo‐Nazis being prosecuted after a recent police raid were operating like any promotion agency organizing ordinary concerts. Police have determined that the group was run by Martin Franěk, who distributed tasks to his “co‐workers” – production people, graphic designers and drivers. Tomáš Pecina, who works for the attorney of one of the 10 accused, has publicized the court order initiating their prosecution, which refers to the structure of the group. He hopes to prove that the police are under political pressure not to inform the media impartially regarding the case and that they are not honoring the presumption of “innocent until proven guilty”. ÚOOZ spokesperson Pavel Hanták has confirmed the authenticity of the document released by Pecina. "I made the document available to draw attention to the fact that the reflection of this case in the media is biased and that the matter may end either with acquittals or with the prosecution being halted. I am disturbed by the political pressure on the police, which this court order confirms," Pecina told iDNES.cz. The men, who are between 24 – 42 years old, will be asked by police to confess to organizing neo‐Nazi concerts and spreading racial hatred. They all belong to the unofficial (unregistered) neo‐Nazi organization Národní odpor (National Resistance). The charges carry a maximum sentence of eight years behind bars. ÚOOZ detectives logged 11 such concerts between April 2008 and February of this year. They claim Martin Franěk, who used to sell clothing with racist and neo‐Nazi slogans on it, was the head of the entire group. Franěk also released and sold CDs by the band Attack, as well as t‐shirts with motifs from WWII. Police have determined that he sent some of the profits through girls in the “brown‐shirt” movement “Resistance Women Unity” to the so‐called “prisoners of war”, neo‐Nazis already in prison. Lukáš Rod, who worked as the graphic designer and production assistant in the group, is said to have been Franěk’s right‐hand man. According to the ÚOOZ, Robert Fürych, an importer of a favorite clothing brand of right‐wing extremists’, Thor Steinar, also played an essential role. At least two concerts were held under the heading of his business, such as the one last August in Ochoz near Brno, iDNES.cz reports. Jan Pohl and Jan Pinkas worked lower down in the hierarchy. One of them reserved plane tickets for groups from abroad in at least three cases, such as for the British band Brutal Attack. The other arranged venues, refreshments and staff. The others charged are musicians and singers with the neo‐Nazi bands Attack and Imperium. They may be brought before the court for celebrating Adolf Hitler and instigating racial hatred and violence. For example, Pavel Blinka of the band Devils Guard called on his audiences to chant the name of the group "White Resistance Engerau" during performances. Engerau is the German name for the Petržalka quarter of Bratislava, where the Nazis ran a labor camp at the end of WWII. 33 A judge has remanded five of those charged into custody; the other five were released on their own recognizance. The children of Czech PM Jan Fischer and Czech Interior Minister Martin Pecina are under police protection as a result of the police crackdown on the neo‐Nazis, as they are allegedly in danger of retaliation. Prague, « Czech neo‐Nazis learning from their colleagues in Saxony, study claims » 4.9.2009 The Czech neo‐Nazi scene is looking to the neo‐Nazi movement in the eastern state of Saxony in neighboring Germany for guidance, according to a joint study conducted by Czech and German NGO experts and police. Close contacts allegedly also exist between Czech and German extremist groups and parties. The study, entitled Dangerous Acquaintances: Right‐wing Extremism in Border Area Contacts (Nebezpečné známosti ‐ pravicový extremismus v malém pohraničním styku) was commissioned by the Heinrich‐Böll Foundation with the financial support of the Remembrance, Responsibility and Future Foundation of Germany and the Czech‐German Fund for the Future. The expert examination, said to be first of its kind ever funded, says the comparatively larger neo‐Nazi scene in Saxony is particularly attractive to Czech neo‐Nazis because it has succeeded in establishing itself at the institutional level. This was exemplified in Sunday’s elections to the Saxon state parliament, in which the extreme‐right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) managed to win seats for the second time in a row. One of the authors of the study, Friedemann Bringt of the Kulturbüro Sachsen organization, points out that collaboration between Czech and German neo‐Nazis is paradoxical. "At the end of the day, the Czechs are of Slavic origin, which is considered ‘inferior’ in the ‘Aryan racial ideology’,” Bringt was quoted as saying in the daily Nibelungen Kurier. Despite this, he says most of the right‐wing extremists in the Czech Republic consider themselves part of the allegedly superior “Aryan race”. Czech and German neo‐Nazi activists have been attending events in one another’s countries, and Bringt said the Czechs are the more active. They are said to take inspiration for their own activities from large‐scale neo‐Nazi events in Saxony such as concerts, various commemorative marches, or celebrations connected with the Deutsche Stimme monthly, the NPD press organ, which take place in various towns in eastern Germany for the most part. The presence of Czech neo‐Nazis at these events has been evident in recent years, especially at demonstrations on the occasion of the anniversary of the bombing of Dresden on 13 February 1945. German neo‐Nazis allegedly appreciate the “relatively less strict approach taken by the Czech police toward Nazi symbols and slogans” in the Czech Republic, according to Bringt. The different approaches taken by the police in the Czech Republic and in Saxony are also obvious in the cases of recent attacks on Czech journalists. While in Saxony the perpetrators of the brutal attack on photographer Stanislav Krupař have already been successfully sentenced (police identified most of the assailants from their own propaganda video on YouTube) in the Czech Republic Ondřej Cakl is still waiting for justice in the case of those who attacked him. In November of last year Cakl was kicked directly in front of a police car patrol during the Autonomous Nationalists’ demonstration at the Janov housing estate in Litvínov. Criminal proceedings in his case are at a standstill. The Saxon State Office for Protection of the Constitution has also recorded collaboration at the level of political parties and groups. "There are close ties between the Saxon members of the NPD, the Czech right‐wing extremist National Resistance, and the right‐wing extremist Workers’ Party (Dělnická strana)," Nibelungen Kurier quoted a source from the office as saying. According to the office, a group of extremists linked to National Resistance met in February last year with representatives of the NPD directly in the Saxon parliament (the Landtag). In mid‐August 2008 the ground was allegedly laid in the Czech Republic for a Czech‐German "seminar" to alternate between the two countries in both languages. The NPD has also agreed on closer cooperation with the Workers’ Party. 34 "Czech neo‐Nazis are learning from their German counterparts to base their outreach on topics which are socially relevant and which can address the majority of society,” Bringt believes. "Instead of topics like Jews, the Third Reich or Hitler, they are now banking primarily on the non‐integration of Roma. Through this topic they can reach out in the Czech Republic to a larger part of the population that does not necessarily identify with National Socialism.” One example was the anti‐Roma event at the Janov housing estate in Litvínov last fall. According to the Czech co‐authors of the study, which include Ondřej Cakl and Klára Kalibová of the civic association Tolerance and Civil Society (Tolerance a občanská společnost), the problem of right‐wing extremism in the Czech Republic continues to be of interest to too few experts. Czech neo‐Nazis are allegedly starting to adopt strategies from their German counterparts for intimidating anti‐fascists, local politicians and journalists. The Security and Information Service of the Czech Republic (Bezpečnostní informační služba ‐ BIS) published its annual report on right‐wing extremism in the Czech Republic. BIS reported that the neo‐Nazis have been professionalizing and radicalizing over the past few years and that their extremist events started to become relatively professional during last year. Unofficial groups like National Resistance and the Autonomous Nationalists have augmented their forces through political representation, i.e., the Workers’ Party. The Czech Interior Ministry is planning a second attempt to dissolve the party. In Germany, democratic political parties have attempted to have the NPD banned, but the proposal was rejected by the German Constitutional Court.
Prague, « Martinů on Czech Television: Radicals trained by a member of the armed forces » 26.10.2009
The neo‐Nazis arrested last Wednesday on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack in the Czech Republic were being trained by a member of the Czech armed forces. Czech Police President Oldřich Martinů made the announcement on Czech Television yesterday, adding that the man involved was not a member of the police. Military training of the radicals was also mentioned on Friday by Robert Šlachta, head of the police Organized Crime Detection Unit (ÚOOZ), when he evaluated film footage of the training released by police. In the footage masked men taught the neo‐Nazis how to disable an opponent armed with a knife or gun. Yesterday Martinů said the training had been led by a man whom the extremists hired. "This did not involve anyone from the police ‐ this was a professional from another armed unit, and that is what is alarming,” he said. However, he refused to say whether the person was from the Czech Army. Media have reported previously on several cases of soldiers participating in neo‐Nazi marches during their free time. After last Wednesday’s house searches of right‐wing radicals, detectives charged 18 people with supporting and promoting movements aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. Police originally arrested 24 people. Šlachta said on Friday that according to his information, the case marks the first time that police officers have suspected members of the extreme right of preparing a terrorist attack. Strategic buildings such as power plants or or businesses were probably among their possible targets, detectives say, but no charges have been filed regarding these suspicions. Šlachta did not rule out that charges might be pressed in future depending on the results of further investigation. Yesterday Martinů also cast doubt on the legitimacy of the complaint which the Workers’ Youth civic association (Dělnická mládež ‐ DM) is said to ready to file today with the Police Presidium. DM intends to complain that during the house searches, ÚOOZ members confiscated the DM membership card index and promotional materials for the Workers’ Party to which DM is connected. However, according to Martinů, ÚOOZ members proceeded strictly according to the law. 35 The membership card index and promotional materials are said to have been confiscated by police during the house search of the association’s vice‐chair Matyáš Sombati. The Antifa.cz web server reported last week that Matyáš Sombati, alias Matttwoo, was one of the most active contributors to the web pages of the neo‐Nazi organization WhiteJustice. However, their evaluation of the group is different from that of the police; Antifa calls WhiteJustice a “tragicomic attempt at a would‐be elite neo‐Nazi terrorist organization.” Workers’ Party chair Tomáš Vandas said last Wednesday that the police action was a desperate attempt by the government of find evidence of illegal behavior by members or sympathizers of the party. The Supreme Administrative Court will decide soon on a government proposal to dissolve the party. Nevertheless, on Friday Šlachta clearly rejected any connection between the raid and government’s motion to abolish the party. Prague, « Experts: Number of neo‐Nazis in the Czech Army impossible to estimate » 10.11.2009
Experts on right‐wing extremism contacted by ČTK say that while it is impossible to estimate how many neo‐Nazis or extreme‐right adherents there are in the Czech Army, their numbers are most probably not large. Experts also agree that neo‐Nazis in the military do not present a serious security threat, but the transfer of experience or munitions from the military to civilian right‐wing extremists could be a problem. "Examples of neo‐Nazism in the Czech military are sporadic and are similar to those in other armies,” political scientist Zdeněk Zbořil told ČTK. "I believe there are larger numbers of real neo‐Nazis among the less intelligent football fans than there are among police officers or soldiers.” According to Martin Bastl, a political scientist and expert on extremism at Masaryk University, there are probably only a few individual soldiers who are active neo‐Nazis. "There are some people there who directly work in smaller neo‐Nazi groups, but the number of those who are just sympathizers could be higher,” he said. He also believes there might be people in the Czech Army who are attracted to only certain aspects of Nazi Germany. "They might be fascinated by the Wehrmacht itself, be impressed by its military technology and military successes, but not necessarily sympathize with the ideology,” Bastl said. Ondřej Cakl of Tolerance and Civil Society (Tolerance a občanská společnost), a long‐time observer of the ultra‐right scene, told ČTK the Czech Defense Ministry has investigated several people in the past in relation to right‐wing extremism. He recalled the case of Martin Hrach, originally a soldier with the artillery division in Pardubice, who had been under investigation since 2007 due to his support for right‐wing movements. Hrach allegedly did not definitively leave the army until this past March. Cakl says Hrach participated in last year’s unrest at the Janov housing estate in Litvínov. Czech Human Rights Minister Michael Kocáb said at the end of April that there are about 90 sympathizers of extremist movements among soldiers in the Czech Army. The Czech Defense Ministry later issued a disclaimer. Bastl says he believes the security threat posed by such people is not high. "The greatest danger is that they will transfer their experience and skills to others who are not members of the security forces,” the political scientist says. Cakl says transfer of weapons is also a possibility: “Military‐issue explosives were found at Janov.” Czech Defense Minister Martin Barták has announced that Lukáš Sedláček, said to have co‐founded and trained the neo‐Nazi organization White Justice, has been discharged from the Army. Police originally suspected some of the members of the group of preparing terrorist attacks on living and inanimate targets, such as power stations, but in the end the members were charged with supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. 36 Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) has reported the organization was preparing terrorist attacks and planning the kidnappings of police officers and “highly placed Jews.” Barták also announced today that Jan Čermák and Hynek Matonoha, the Czech soldiers who wore SS unit symbols on their helmets in Afghanistan, have been temporarily removed from duty. MfD reported the symbols as being those of the SS Dirlewanger brigade and the SS Hohenstaufen division. "I would call that the ignorance and stupidity of those particular soldiers,” Zbořil commented. According to Cakl, however, there may be more such cases. Both Bastl and Zbořil say the soldiers probably selected the SS unit symbols randomly. "If they chose them for their reputation…those were real thugs. Those two units were renowned for their brutality, especially the Dirlewanger brigade," Zbořil said. Bastl believes the choice of symbols had more to do with image than with the soldiers espousing Nazi ideology. "Machismo, the cult of the soldier, is connected with this symbolism,” he said. "As far as I am aware, this is not a one‐off incident. This kind of stylizing happens in other circles too, both in the Czech Army and in other NATO armies," Bastl says. "What is more alarming is that they were commanding officers and that someone tried to sweep this under the carpet,” Zbořil said. MfD reports that police officers serving in Afghanistan had previously informed their superiors of Čermák and Matonoha’s behavior. "Nothing was done about it. To be more precise, the commander of the contingent in Logar, Petr Procházka, merely ordered the incineration of the helmet covers with the SS unit symbols," MfD reports. 37 B. Act against the movement Prague, « Commentary: Senate hearing on neo‐Nazism is “protection against criticism” » 11.11.2009 “Protecting society against neo‐Nazism” was the title of a public hearing held yesterday in the upper chamber of the Czech Parliament, organized by Czech Senator Jaromír Jermář, chair of the Senate Committee for Education, Science, Culture and Human Rights. Some thanks are probably due to the senator, since in addition to the self‐congratulatory speeches by police officers and state officials and the empty phrases of some of the politicians, academicians and other speakers, a few valuable expert overviews of the issue of extremism did manage to be presented. However, what did not occur – and its omission often seemed intentional – was any real discussion of the various topics. With one exception, people from civic associations that monitor extremism were given no meaningful opportunity to participate. “The politicians, police officers, state officials, academics and civil society people in attendance all had the opportunity to watch a 15‐minute film on the ultra‐right extremist actions at the Janov housing estate in Litvínov last year. The film was presented by Ondřej Cakl of the Tolerance and Civil Society association (Tolerance a občanská společnost) and reflected his long‐term experience in monitoring neo‐Nazi events. “ “We are putting out the fires of a problem that has been minimized” “The contribution by Deputy Interior Minister Jiří Komorous was worth paying attention to. He said that at this moment we find ourselves in the position of firefighters trying to put out the fires of a problem that has been minimized and underestimated for decades. Extremism would not exist if it were not finding fertile ground. Even though the state of law enforcement is poor in the Czech Republic, politicians believe the police will solve everything for them. Komorous said that while law enforcement is important for addressing extremism, it is only one of many avenues. Not only do the police suffer from their own shortcomings, they are unable to resolve the issue on their own, because it is a problem that covers a broad range of areas. “We must all act together,” he said, adding that at his initiative there are now several working groups at the Interior Ministry doing their best to improve the situation. The first group involves experts who review the options for direct action by the state in this matter, including infiltrating the extremists. The second group involves police officers, state prosecutors and other lawyers who will be developing and proposing legislative changes needed to address extremism. The third group involves people from NGOs exchanging experiences with police officers. The fourth, ad hoc group has been tasked with creating a model for addressing the causes of extremism as rapidly and as simply as possible in cooperation with the central state administration, municipalities and the Roma. This group includes representatives of the Jewish community, Roma and some Christian organizations, as well as Jitka Gjuričová, Director of the Department of Crime Prevention at the Interior Ministry. Together they have designed a project called “Dawn” (Úsvit) which is introducing special police patrols that include Roma police assistants. Komorous says eight such “joint sheriffs” are already patrolling the Chanov housing estate. “If the extremists were to go there today, they wouldn’t stand a chance,” he said. “Things will probably not be as easy as Komorous suggests. However, we should be grateful that instead of all the empty talk we have been subjected to in the past, someone is actually doing something now. Superficial media coverage The speech by political scientist Jan Charvát of the Charles University Faculty of Social Sciences was one of the only presentations that was consistent and reflected a conviction based on the speaker’s values and his genuine expertise. Charvát chose the difficult topic of the extreme right in the Czech Republic and their reflection in the media. Here I will briefly try to summarize his most important points. 38 The views of psychologists and sociologists are missing from the media discourse on this topic. Media outlets like covering topics related to neo‐Nazism, as it is an easy topic to condemn and take a stand on. However, the extreme right is not just neo‐Nazi, but has two other main offshoots, xenophobic right‐wing populists and fascists ‐ here I would give the example of the National Party (Národní strana ‐ NS). The result of this conceptual confusion is that media evaluations of ultra‐right extremism are superficial. Through this superficiality, and because the NS is skilled at presenting itself attractively from a PR point of view, the media has greatly assisted the NS by falling for its propaganda tactics and reporting every trivial matter related to the party. This has exaggerated the actual danger the party represents, as its membership list was only ever a few dozen people at most. Today the party seems to be falling apart, as its chair of many years is leaving and it will not be running candidates in the next elections. Charvát also noted that the extremists were recently assisted by an interview published in the daily MF Dnes which Deputy Editor Viliam Buchert conducted with Filip Vávra, a leading Czech neo‐Nazi and racist ideologue. The interview could never possibly have succeeded in unmasking Vávra for what he really is because “the neo‐Nazis cannot publicly declare their real ideology, what they really think. If they were they to do this, they would naturally face criminal prosecution.” In Charvát’s view, Vávra was given the opportunity by MF Dnes to use all of the tactics through which neo‐Nazis and racists avoid espousing their true ideology, tactics which lead to such extremists being legitimized. Relieved of their ideological baggage, such neo‐Nazi tactics can become acceptable to a wider range of people. Here I must completely agree with the analysis presented. Changes to the law on assembly? Jan Wintr of the Charles University Law Faculty also contributed an interesting proposal for discussion: Municipalities could acquire the option, directly through amendments to the law on assembly, to ban gatherings once they begin should they diverge from their originally announced purpose. Wintr referred to a Supreme Administrative Court verdict which demonstrated how very difficult it is to preventively ban a gathering. “It would probably be good to directly insert into the law a provision for banning a gathering once its real purpose is revealed,” Wintr said. Tightening the law on assembly has already been discussed in civil society circles for several years. Many people involved in civic associations are concerned that tightening the law would also impact freedom of speech for initiatives that are not extremist but which the state or local governments might consider inconvenient. My personal opinion is the law should definitely be tightened. These concerns about the protection of speech are unnecessary, as civic associations can always point out any lawbreaking by officials or police officers and see to it that they are prosecuted. Danger of the Workers’ Party radicalizing Martin Linhart, Director of the Czech Interior Ministry Security Policy Department, gave a good presentation reminding those present that should the government’s second attempt to dissolve the extreme‐right Workers’ Party fail, the party’s promoters and their actions could radicalize. At the end of September the government proposed once again to the Supreme Administrative Court that the party be dissolved after failing with such a motion in the spring due to a lack of evidence in their proposal. Here I would like to add that the government’s first attempt failed because then‐Interior Minister Ivan Langer submitted the motion in such a way that it was clear from the start that it would never pass. The Workers’ Party was thus given added legitimacy and Langer’s remarkable assistance to the extremists in this respect was quite conscious. To say the motion was poorly prepared by those beneath him would be an insult to the police officers and anti‐extremists in the Organized Crime Detection Unit and other experienced police, the vast majority of whom are real professionals. Had it been up to them alone, the original motion to ban the Workers’ Party would have turned out like the second attempt commissioned by current Interior Minister Martin Pecina. .
39 This motion has at least some hope of success because the Interior Ministry collaborated on it with the intelligence services and civic associations that have monitored the extremist scene for many years. Legitimizing extremists As if Langer’s intentional “dilettantism” and interviews with right‐wing extremists in the media were not bad enough, invitations of such extremists to universities to hold discussions with students have no doubt contributed to legitimizing both the extremists and their ideology in the eyes of a not inconsiderable segment of the public. Some civil society representatives were very surprised to see whom the Senate Committee had entrusted with moderating two blocs of the “hearing”. One surprise was political scientist Zdeněk Zbořil, who in 2001 invited Filip Vávra to speak to his seminars at the Charles University Philosophical Faculty – the same Vávra who has participated in attacks on synagogues, giving the Nazi salute in front of them, and in attacks on gay clubs. Zbořil also invited Jan Skácel of the Patriotic Front, a co‐organizer of neo‐Nazi demonstrations in the late 1990s, to speak to his seminars as well. The second shocking choice of moderator was Professor Jan Rataj, a political scientist from the University of Economics in Prague who also invites extremists to participate in discussions. For example, in his class on “The Czech Radical and Anti‐System Right Wing” (“Česká radikální a antisystémová pravice”) the following people have given lectures and participated in debates: Jan Skácel and David Macháček of the Patriotic Front, František Červenka of National Renewal Action, Jan Kopal of the Czech Movement for National Unity, National Party chair Petra Edelmannová and her party colleagues Pavel Sedláček and Michal Ševčík, Petr Kalinovský of the neo‐Nazi National Resistance, and others. When I criticized Rataj for legitimizing extremists this way during the Senate hearing, he said his invitations do not legitimize extremists because he also invites their opponents to the discussions. He then invited me to come to one, and I refused with thanks. Rataj evidently does not realize that those opposed to these would‐be ultra‐right wing extremist personalities would legitimize the fascists, neo‐Nazis and xenophobic populists even more if they were to engage them. We are not happy with the opponents who do voluntarily participate in these discussions, but the greater part of the blame lies with the person who came up with this idea in the first place and made it happen along with the necessary dose of historical memory loss it requires. Zbořil and Rataj have both broken the boundaries of what is socially acceptable and what isn’t. For some unknown reason they are both considered “experts” on extremism, so the media has automatically accepted their transgressions of the bounds of decency. In this respect, it is also sad to see the behavior of the Czech Television public broadcaster, which invites representatives of the National Party, the Workers’ Party, and other extremists to participate in discussion programs. We might have expected a bit more reasonableness from academics than from media editors, who obviously have not the slightest comprehension of the ethics of their profession, but just look how mistaken we can be! You call this a discussion? Senator Jaromír Jermář thanked everyone for the discussion at the end of the day, but no discussion ever occurred. The organizers let each bloc run on a little long (as always during such conferences) and therefore discussion was opened only formally. Only a few people from the state, municipalities or the academy were allowed to respond to the contributions, and they only received barely two minutes in which to do so. Despite all of the politicians, police officers and state officials declaring during the seminar how necessary it is to collaborate with civic associations, people from such associations were not allowed to discuss the topic at hand. Markus Pape, the attorney‐in‐fact for the Roma family from Vítkov that was so brutally victimized by extremists earlier this year, was permitted to speak for only one minute before the moderator cut him off, while Ladislav Baláž, a Roma anti‐extremist activist from Havířov, was given no opportunity to speak. Zdeněk Zbořil, however, took up at least five minutes of time discussing completely inessential matters. 40 Before lunch the organizers promised there would be room for discussion after the afternoon bloc of presentations. There was room, but once again, only those who spoke in the morning were permitted to participate. Moreover, most of the civil society people did not return to the “hearing” after lunch, as they were greatly disappointed in both who had led the seminar and how it had been led. Jan Rataj, was a complete failure in his role as moderator of the afternoon bloc. After each contribution he spoke for almost five minutes in highly academic gibberish about nothing relevant. Since he kept ostentatiously overlooking my raised hand, I had to move to the center of the hall in order not to be left out of the discussion. Just before letting me take the microphone, he of course announced that the seminar would have to end at 16:00 sharp and said discussants could have only one minute. I therefore simply asked all the politicians present, all the police officers, state officials and academics who had been calling for cooperation with NGOs all day long a simple question: Is this what you call a discussion? The opinions published in the COMMENTARY section do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the editors of the Romea.cz web server or the ROMEA civic association. Prague, « Čeněk Růžička: Czech schools must teach more about the harm of Nazi ideology » 17.11.2009 Last week a public hearing was held in the upper chamber of the Czech Parliament on the topic “Protecting Society from Neo‐Nazism”. One of those who participated in the discussion was the chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust, Čeněk Růžička, one of the country’s leading Roma personalities. We spoke with him about neo‐Nazism and racism, the position of Roma in society, the approach of the majority society toward the Roma, and what the Roma themselves need to improve. Růžička is most bothered by two things: The large number of Romani children in “special” education and the lack of instruction at elementary schools about the harmfulness of Nazi ideology and the methods used by the Nazis to put that ideology into practice. He is also bothered by the continually deteriorating social situation of the Roma. What should society as a whole be doing against neo‐Nazism and racism? What can be done better, what is missing? I spoke about this during the Senate hearing. I am an indigenous Czech Rom, I have my roots here, my ancestors lived here for centuries before me, so I am mainly bothered by the shortcomings of Czech education and the poor awareness of history in this country. Nothing is taught at schools about the harmfulness of the Nazi ideology and the ways the Nazis put it into practice. Children, including Romani children, and youth know almost nothing about the Roma victims of the Holocaust, because they are not taught about them in school. What is missing here is at least some sort of learning from one’s own history, primarily from what happened on Czech territory. The campaigns against racism need to be better done. Very recently, comparatively more effort and resources have been put into the fight against neo‐Nazism and racism, but the question is whether these resources are sufficient given the rising number of those sympathizing with the neo‐Nazi scene, and whether the instruments selected are always effective. In my view, the way to fight the neo‐Nazis that might bring about immediate results in the short term, the way that would be simplest and most effective, is to ridicule them, mock them, caricature them. This whole time there has only been one such campaign, and it did not last long – even though such campaigns are not expensive and PR agencies are good at creating them. There should be television ads, print ads, spots on the radio. The result would be that the neo‐Nazis would be scorned for their efforts. Of course, I’m not talking about a brief campaign. It should last much longer than the previous ones, so that it becomes “in” not to sympathize with racists and neo‐Nazis. Today, unfortunately, the opposite is very much the case. Or take the so‐called “specialized schools” (“specialní školy”) – these used to be called “special schools” (“zvláštní školy”) and before that they were called “remedial” (“pomocné školy”). 41 This spring research was published saying that 72 % of Romani children study at regular schools and 28 % in special education. I hope whoever did the research did not reverse those numbers without realizing it. In my opinion, the number of Romani children in compulsory education being taught in “special” education is a higher percentage than that research presents. It would be good to know how the research was performed, how many Romani pupils there are as a whole, who determined, and how, that this or that pupil has Romani parents. It is also a shame that the research did not involve a serious investigation of how many Romani pupils in “special education” have been transferred back into normal elementary school and in which years. Healthy children do not belong in special education, even if they are Roma. If they are being given such education, the state should correct that – even if it goes against the parents’ wishes. Moving a child from special education back to mainstream education should just be a technical matter. Before Romani children can get to the same starting point as the others, teachers must do more work with them, and sometimes with their parents too. Even though that costs money, the state should know it will pay off in the end. Should statistics be gathered that include data on ethnicity? Yes, with a certain measure of caution. The creation and use of statistics must take place under strict supervision. The state needs to know how many Roma there are in the regions, in terms of numbers and in terms of social status. However, I would hope the results of such statistics would not just lead to an increase in the number of police stations inside Roma ghettos. In the eyes of at least some of the public, the neo‐Nazis have succeeded in drawing a link between the Roma and their extremism. The fact that the Roma are socially excluded is spoken of by only a few people from NGOs. Shouldn’t we try to change the majority perception? The social exclusion of the Roma is first and foremost the result of centuries of feeding the phenomenon called prejudice. We would like to get rid of this once and for all, but the society in which we live must give us a chance to get rid of it. Our organization is succeeding in wrestling with this prejudice through our traveling exhibition, entitled “A Vanished World” (“Zaniklý svět”), and we are noticing an unexpectedly friendly reaction from those who visit it ‐ all you have to do is look at what people write in the visitors’ book. Unless these neo‐Nazi groups, these individuals, these politicians are held responsible for their hateful, public, racist statements about the Roma, the perception of the Roma will deteriorate even further and the hatred felt by some in the majority society will increase. The traditional Czech Roma and Sinti know very well how such a scenario might develop. Recently I have also been disturbed by the activities of President Klaus, who negotiated an exception at EU level for our country with respect to its obligation to follow the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is part of the Lisbon Treaty. That charter is mainly intended to guarantee the poor a decent life. The life now being lived by retirees and families forced to live on welfare is not decent at all. The Senate hearing was on the topic of protecting society from neo‐Nazism, but the moderator prevented discussion of the victims of neo‐Nazism. One person touched on the fact that discussion of the results of neo‐Nazism was being avoided and suggested that a hearing needs to be held on protecting minorities from the rest of society. Do you share that view? Here is my considered response: The essential blame for the fact that the Roma are where they are lies with society per se, with the majority – we are only partially responsible for these problems. These anti‐Roma marches have their roots in Czech history. The Roma have been living in Europe for 600 years and their life has not been a walk through a rose garden in any of them. The worst was what the Nazis and their minions did to my people during the Second World War, for example, in the Protectorate. The police of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia organized an unimaginable round‐up of the Roma and Sinti and imprisoned them in concentration camps in Hodonín and Lety, where they died in the hundreds under the supervision of Czech guards. Go take a look at those sites today. These places, which should commemorate the monstrosity of racial hatred, are desecrated by a pig farm and a recreation center. What does that tell you? 42 It is true that from time to time something comes to light to confirm that part of this society still takes this approach. Most recently we learned that two Czech military commanders serving in Logar, Afghanistan have been wearing SS symbols on their helmets. Of course, the Defense Minister immediately discharged them from the Army and has suspended their superiors from service. I am surprised that this society is surprised by such events. Quite a few people join the military who think they are “Rambo”, who have the need to be in command. It could be expected that the minister would handle it this way. It will be much more serious should it be eventually proven that the superior officers of those commanders knew about this phenomenon in the Army and covered it up. I am partially reassured by the fact that ordinary soldiers serving under those commanders brought this case to light. That is definitely positive. I think experts should develop better psychological tests and the Army should make more thorough use of them when enlisting new recruits, but they should also follow the maturity and psychological resilience of the soldiers and their commanders over time. I have also encountered people who worship this cult of power who work for the police – and I am not the only one. The same applies to them. Are the Roma themselves doing something wrong? What should they do to improve co‐existence with the majority society? The Roma would like to have a more dignified position in the eyes of the Czech public. We should just be ourselves, defend our pride, we should not be ashamed of the fact that we are Roma. That is the basis for progress. I’m not going to say how we should behave, what we should do. We must establish order ourselves within our own community. The author Janko Horváth has a similar opinion and says there should be joint, united action. Exactly ‐ until the 1989 revolution the Roma had a kind of reputation in Czechoslovakia, we created things of value, we worked. Today the situation is that the vast majority of Roma, through no fault of their own, often contribute nothing to society. Estimates are that 80 – 90 % of the Roma live on welfare, which irritates Czech society greatly. They are mostly irritated because these people are Roma, and they are also irritated because it’s expensive. The majority is not bothered by the fact that Czechs also live on welfare. Here I must repeat a generally known fact, which is that it is comparatively much more difficult for the Roma to find work. There is a lot of discussion about how the Roma themselves can improve their position in society, but we don’t hear this discussed in detail. Do you have some ideas about this? Raising the Roma community up to an acceptable level can only be done through natural approaches that respect the Roma mindset and their cultural values. Here is one option: Every larger community in the Roma ghettos includes a certain number of men who enjoy a sort of natural authority among the Roma. Usually these are older Roma – they are less educated from the point of view of the majority society, but they are rich in life experience. Almost every day we see television reports about the disorder around Roma residences, and this significantly damages our reputation. I am certain we can get rid of such disruption with the help of such natural authorities. They could keep an eye on people who make noise at night, on school attendance, on the exploitation of poor Roma by loan sharks, etc. Municipalities or local Roma organizations – ideally working together – could provide these natural authorities with the backup they need and remunerate them financially. The Senate hearing was attended by a wide variety of people: Politicians, police officers, state attorneys, bureaucrats, people from civic associations, Roma, Jewish people. Do such meetings make you hopeful? Every such meeting has its purpose ‐ I just ask how much it really means. Imagine if everyone at the hearing had gone into the streets to protest the neo‐Nazis and their sympathizers. A joint, well‐prepared, public demonstration against extremist groups, making fun of them – and then, naturally, proper instruction at schools – all of this together, I believe, could help. 43 Of course, the politicians would first have to want to support the Roma. For the time being they are more likely to be a vehicle for anti‐Roma, populist slogans. Such slogans have been repeated in the past, are being repeated now, and will be repeated in the future because in the first place they are political gold, and in the second place we allow them to be repeated. We must pay careful attention to the political party affiliation of these “stars” and remember who is who when it’s time to vote. Only a few people in this country – and our numbers are not growing – are taking action against this discord in society. Among most Roma I observe apathy, and it does not surprise me. The Roma have been pushed into the very worst poverty that they have ever experienced during the postwar period. We can achieve some partial successes on our own, but not fundamental ones. We need the support of everyone to implement essential change, and for that we still have a long way to go here. 44