The young man faces three to 12 years in prison. The indictment, which is available to ČTK, will be resolved by the court next month.
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According to the public prosecutor, Houf amused himself by making malicious conversations with his half-year-old friend between 14 May and 6 June 2017 and then observing the unreasonable security measures they had triggered.
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The phone calls were allegedly made via Skype by Houf’s friend, each time under a fictional identity and sometimes using a voice modulator. At the same time, the herd supported him from a distance from their residence in Frýdek-Místek and advised him via Skype, according to a comprehensive indictment.
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Houf will sit alone on the dock. The prosecution of his acquaintance was stopped by the public prosecutor in 2018 due to insanity. According to the indictment, the consequences of the young people’s actions included, among other things, the closure of the access roads to Prague’s Wenceslas Square, the closure of the Stromovka park in České Budějovice or the evacuation of 230 people from the train and railway station in Lysá nad Labem. In addition, unnecessary departures of police officers and firefighters caused damage in the order of tens of thousands of crowns.
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According to the public prosecutor, the young people most often focused on the offices of Prague police officers and police officers with their phone calls, but they also called their colleagues in Brno, Pilsen, Rakovník or České Budějovice, as well as in Martin, Slovakia.
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A total of 45 deeds
Houf’s friend allegedly often introduced himself on behalf of one of the Czech youtubers or also as Rajesh Koothrappali, which is a character from the comedy series The Big Bang Theory. In some cases, he stated that he was a fighter of an Islamic state, trained by the Taliban and will shoot at people.
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Sometimes he demanded money as a ransom. Among other things, he figured out that he was holding ten hostages in a Prague pizzeria, that a bomb would explode in the office of the director of Prague police officers, that a České Budějovice supermarket was being fired, or that he had placed several explosive systems in the abandoned villa of Černošice businessman Radovan Krejčíř.
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The indictment, which contains a total of 46 acts, further states that Houf colored some phone calls with Arabic music, the sounds of shots or the ticking of a bomb. After reading an article on the Internet stating that Czech hospitals are the target of terrorists, the young men allegedly focused on these facilities and repeatedly threatened to bomb dozens of Prague and Brno hospitals in a single evening.
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The prosecutor sees a threat of a terrorist crime in some of the phone calls. “They were supposed to provoke fear and evoke that they are made by a person who professes Islam and intends to spread his ideas through jihad in its violent, extremist, militant and terrorist form,” he said.
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That is why Houf faces up to 12 years in prison if he is found guilty. The courts could impose a maximum of four years for blackmail, and a maximum of three years for the dissemination of an alarm message. The Prague City Court wants to start hearing the case on August 25.
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