Police accused a 41-year-old man of extremism for a racist article about the tragic fire in Bohumín and other acts. The man is being investigated at large and faces up to three years in prison. He exercised his right, did not testify and lodged a complaint against the commencement of criminal prosecution.
On August 8, 11 people, including several children, died in a fire in a panel house in Bohumín in the Karviná region. The article stated that the victims and the alleged perpetrator were Roma and that the author wrote about the dead as “harmful” and “parasites”.
The article appeared on the Vlastenecké noviny server the day after the fire. Although the deputy mayor of Bohumín, Igor Bruzl (ČSSD), had previously said that the dead and the perpetrator were not members of any of the minorities, the server wrote about the dead as “gypsies”. The police immediately confirmed that they were dealing with a racist article.
According to the police, the accusation does not only apply to the text about the Bohumín fire, but also to other acts that the police have not yet specified. According to the server Manipulátoři.cz Racist and xenophobic articles have repeatedly appeared on the Vlastenecké noviny website.
In connection with this and other acts, criminal investigators accused the 41-year-old man of extremist crimes. More information at today’s press briefing at 1 pm in the building of the Regional Police Headquarters of the Moravian-Silesian Region. #policiemsk
– Police of the Czech Republic (@PolicieCZ) August 17, 2020
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“The man started committing criminal activity in the middle of last year,” Řezníček said about the accusation. According to him, the man commented on various events. “He proceeded very sophisticated. He changed names and abbreviations. He also used social networks to disseminate his texts,” the policeman said, adding that this was the complication that had made investigations more difficult for criminal investigators.
“There are dozens of cases in which he commented derogatoryly on events in the world or in the Czech Republic. For example, he approved of someone’s death. In the texts, he even threatened state authorities, police officers or members of the government,” he said.
Finally, the men were charged with four crimes – defamation of a nation, race, ethnic or other group of persons, incitement to hatred against a group of persons or restriction of their rights and freedoms, threats to act on a public authority and threats to act on an official. During a house search, police officers seized a large number of documents. Everything will be evaluated, for example whether the texts do not have extremist content.
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