Czech Republic

Czech Republic: More charges over brawl in Ostrava, six people being prosecuted

Ostrava, 30.1.2015 1:07, (ROMEA) Police have charged another assailant from the large group of people who attacked the security guards of a gaming room in mid-January in Ostrava. The serious scuffle between the bodyguards and the Romani assailants occurred after two customers were removed from the gaming room by bouncers.  full story

Czech Republic: Half a million people are housing insecure

Prague, 29.1.2015 20:58, (ROMEA) Around half a million citizens of the Czech Republic are at risk of losing their housing. Many families with young children are among them.  full story

videoJan Hauer: Intolerance is rising, the victims of Nazism must be remembered

Terezín, 29.1.2015 20:05, (ROMEA) Jan Hauer (68) traveled to Terezín on Tuesday to honor the memory of the Romani victims of the Holocaust. "We must constantly remember what the Nazis did, not only to the Jews, but also to the Roma, the Sinti and other nations, especially today, when racial intolerance is increasing," Hauer said at the National Cemetery after attending a prayer service for the dead organized by the Konexe organization as part of its commemoration of Romani victims.  full story

Commentary: Gala at Prague Castle vs. a smelly pig farm

Prague, 29.1.2015 19:40, (ROMEA) It cost the Czech Police CZK 10.5 million to keep an eye on security for the event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust that took place on Monday and Tuesday in Prague and at Terezín. How much it might cost to move the pig farm from the site of the former concentration camp for Roma at Lety by Písek is still just being estimated - it could cost dozens of millions, but more likely would cost several hundred million crowns.  full story

Czech Republic: European legislative heads say anti-Semitism and intolerance must not be tolerated

Prague, 29.1.2015 2:20, (ROMEA) Calls to combat Islamist radicals and terrorism and to eliminate rising displays of anti-Semitism and intolerance were heard during a two-day international forum in Prague marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust. The most dramatic challenge was addressed to the international community by Czech President Miloš Zeman, who warned of the threat of a "super Holocaust" by the radical organization Islamic State at a potential cost of hundreds of millions of lives.  full story

Czech court levies record damages against online publisher for racist discussion posts

Prague, 29.1.2015 0:38, (ROMEA) A Czech court has, for the first time, handed down a punishment for the racism that occurs in online discussions beneath articles posted to news servers and social networking sites, a phenomenon that has yet to be sufficiently prosecuted here. Plaintiff Jaroslav Suchý has succeeded with a lawsuit against OUR MEDIA, the publisher of the online tabloid Parlamentní listy, and the Municipal Court has awarded him damages of CZK 150 000 for insults targeting him in anonymous online discussions.  full story

Czech Republic: Politicians and survivors remember the Holocaust at Terezín

Terezín, 28.1.2015 1:00, (ROMEA) Dozens of chairs and vice-chairs of legislatures from countries all over Europe commemorated the fates of the victims of the Holocaust today at Terezín together with many people who survived the Nazi terror. The event was part of a two-day international forum marking the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi camp at Auschwitz.
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Czech media retract unverified article about Romani quintuplets and organic food

Prague, 27.1.2015 21:26, (ROMEA) The online news servers Blesk.cz and KrajskéListy.cz began the start of last week with articles claiming that the family of the Romani quintuplets had rejected a gift of organic food from an unidentified farmer. The family was alleged to have returned the gift to the farmer without even thanking her for it.  full story

Czech wartime superhero "returns" to criticize Lety pig farm

Prague, 27.1.2015 20:24, (ROMEA) On the eve of the commemoration of the Holocaust and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, a poster and signs referencing the concentration camp at Lety by Písek have been posted in Brno, Lety, Prague and Terezín reminding readers that a pig farm still stands on the site where hundreds of people died. No one has taken responsibility for the text, which is signed with the name of "Pérák", a Czech legendary superhero who was depicted during the war as fighting against the Nazis.  full story

Czech Republic: Lety pig farm remembered at entrance to Terezín

Terezín, 27.1.2015 19:22, (ROMEA) The Konexe association has once again called attention to the topic of the Romani Holocaust and the scandal of the pig farm at Lety by Písek within the framework of the commemoration in honor of Holocaust victims at Terezín. Miroslav Brož of the association explained his reasons for holding the event to news server Romea.cz last week as follows: "Not just the commemorative ceremony at Terezín, but the entire atmosphere around it does not assure us that the Romani people who were murdered will also be remembered in a dignified way. For example, Czech Television is preparing to broadcast a whole slate of films and other programs to mark the anniversary, including programs about the Czech resistance and about Jewish people, but not one program is about Romani people."  full story

Czech Republic: Romani NGO helps halt illegal debt collections worth more than CZK 2.5 million

Brno, 27.1.2015 18:38, (ROMEA) The Brno-based organization DROM Romani Center has long been successfully aiding people who have ended up in the debt trap because of usurious loans. In 2014 the courts halted unjustified collections proceedings against 33 clients of DROM worth CZK 2 532 000.  full story

Czech Supreme Court says "machete attack" was attempted murder

Brno, 27.1.2015 1:01, (ROMEA) The Czech Supreme Court (Nejvyšší soud - NS) has confirmed that the "machete attack" committed in the town of Nový Bor was attempted murder and that the perpetrators conspired to commit the attack in full awareness of its possible outcome. The court rejected the appeal of the four men convicted of the crime, who are serving sentences ranging from five to 17.5 years in prison.  full story

Authorities return confiscated Czech-Romani flags to artist after acquittal

Prague, 27.1.2015 0:21, (ROMEA) The story of the art project called "Selection Procedure for a Czech-Romani Flag", which was exhibited during the summer of 2013 at the outdoor Artwall Gallery in Prague on the Edvard Beneš embankment of the Vltava River has now ended with both misdemeanor proceedings that were opened against artist Tomáš Rafa ending in acquittal. "I am startled by the fact that discussions have once again erupted that are evidently being incited by ultra-right groups, because they still keep talking about this art project as having endangered the statehood of the Czech Republic or its state symbol. This was an anti-racist project that intended to support the unity of everyone in the Czech Republic," Rafa told news server Romea.cz.  full story

The forgotten Holocaust: Romani victims of the Holocaust and their place in the Czech past and present

26.1.2015 23:19, (ROMEA) On 27 January 1945 the Red Army liberated the complex of Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz, where millions of people from all over Europe suffered and died. Among them were the Romani children, men and women in the so-called "Gypsy Family Camp" in one section of Auschwitz-Birkenau.  full story

Commentary: Where does "The Way Out" lead if almost no one cares?

Prague, 26.1.2015 19:41, (ROMEA) The success of the film "The Way Out" (Cesta ven) may be having a paradoxical impact. Petr Václav's movie about the life of Romani people in a ghetto has won the Czech Film Critics Award and was selected to represent Czech cinematography at last year's Cannes Film Festival.  full story

Czech Republic: Auschwitz survivor alive today due to human error

Czech Republic, 26.1.2015 17:52, (ROMEA) Dagmar Lieblová survived her internment in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz at the age of 15 because a clerical error labeled her as older than she really was and she was able to
leave the death camp to work in Germany. Lieblová, who is the chair of the Terezín Initiative, which endeavors to preserve awareness about the Holocaust and aid survivors, told the Czech News Agency today that her survival was an accident.  full story

Commentary: France is going crazy with the fight against terrorism - what next?

Prague, 25.1.2015 5:03, (ROMEA) "We aren't Charlie and we never will be, you band of whores. You reap what you sow," is what one of four underage students in France posted to Facebook, according to the Czech News Agency, before they were arrested on 22 January by French Police.  full story

Czech President says he meant "only" the mentally disabled should be educated separately

Prague, 25.1.2015 3:53, (ROMEA) After meeting with Czech Education Minister Marcel Chládek (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD), Czech President Miloš Zeman has said that his recent remarks about handicapped children were not about the physically disabled. Chládek said that in their conversation, Zeman clarified that he had primarily meant to refer to moderately severe and profound cases of mental handicap.  full story

Czech film about Roma wins Czech Film Critics Award, as does Romani actress

Prague, 24.1.2015 23:37, (ROMEA) The winner of the Czech Film Critics Award this year is Petr Václav's "The Way Out" (Cesta ven). The film has garnered three awards for Best Film, Best Direction and Best Screenplay.  full story

Czech Republic: Museum of Romani Culture marks Holocaust Remembrance Day

Brno, 24.1.2015 22:04, (ROMEA) On 27 January 1945 the complex of Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz, where millions of people from all over Europe suffered and died, was liberated by the Red Army. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the day the "death factory", as Auschwitz is called, was closed.  full story