Czech Republic

Czech Constitutional Court rejects ex-Senator's complaint against fine for racism

Brno, 21.1.2015 16:03, (ROMEA) The Czech Constitutional Court (Ústavní soud - ÚS) has rejected a complaint from former Czech Senator Vladimír Dryml against a fine of CZK 20 000 that he must pay for verbally attacking a doctor from Yemen. The sanction was levied by the Czech Senate's Committee on Immunity, according to which Dryml's remarks were racially motivated.  full story

Czech Republic: Director of Terezín memorial against NGO honoring Romani victims separately

Terezín, 21.1.2015 0:21, (ROMEA) The Konexe association is planning to hold an event to honor the Romani victims of the Holocaust at Terezín on the same day that the official commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz will take place. Konexe is concerned that Romani victims will either not be remembered at all or will not be sufficiently remembered by the official event.  full story

Czech Republic: ROMEA helps tutor socially disadvantaged children

Kladno, 20.1.2015 21:58, (ROMEA) From September to December 2014, socially disadvantaged children received regular tutoring at the Pařížská Primary School in Kladno as part of a project called "Education for successful integration". One ambition of the project was to involve Romani college students as tutors.  full story

Czech MP didn't see neo-Nazis at anti-Islamic demo, but Romea.cz did!

Prague, 20.1.2015 20:01, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that Czech MP Jana Černochová (Civic Democratic Party - ODS) is defending her participation at a demonstration at Prague Castle convened by a group called "We Don't Want Islam in the Czech Republic" by saying she didn't see any Nazis demonstrating with them. Reporters with news server Romea.cz, however, saw Vlastimil Pechanec with two friends at the demo; Pechanec was sentenced in 2003 to 17 years in prison for a racially motivated murder in the town of Svitavy.  full story

Commentary: Disabled children don't have to sit in the corner

Prague, 19.1.2015 18:05, (ROMEA) The recent remarks by Czech President Miloš Zeman about inclusion have sparked a stormy discussion here. "I am not an advocate of the opinion that children who are handicapped in a certain way should be placed into classrooms with non-handicapped pupils, because that is unfortunate for both," the President said at the Rehabilitation Institute in Brandýs nad Orlicí as part of his visit to the Pardubice Region  full story

Czech Republic: Demonstration at Terezín will demand Romani victims of Holocaust be honored

Terezín, 19.1.2015 16:35, (ROMEA) During the commemorative ceremony on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on 27 January, a demonstration demanding that Romani victims of the Holocaust be honored will take place at Terezín. The protest is being convened by the Konexe association, which among other things has long fought to see the pig farm on the site of a former concentration camp for Roma at Lety by Písek be removed  full story

Czech film critics nominate film about Roma for prize

Prague, 18.1.2015 22:06, (ROMEA) Six nominations for the Czech Film Critics AWard, which will be handed out for the fifth time on 24 January at Prague's Archa Theater, have been garnered by director Petr Václav's film "The Way Out" (Cesta ven). Jiří Mádl's debut "To See the Sea" (Pojedeme k moři) received five nominations and Andrea Sedláčková's "Fair Play" received four.  full story

Commentary: Czech President's remarks supported discrimination against Romani children

Prague, 17.1.2015 23:28, (ROMEA) "Handicapped children should not attend classes together with non-handicapped children" - that is approximately what Czech President Miloš Zeman said last Wednesday during a visit to a Rehabilitation Institute in Brandýs nad Orlicí. His words have sparked a firestorm of criticism from experts and politicians.  full story

Czech Republic: Protests against Islam and for religious freedom in front of Prague Castle

Prague, 17.1.2015 22:07, (ROMEA) Roughly 600 people, according to police, gathered yesterday evening in front of Prague Castle for a demonstration convened by the "We Don't Want Islam in the Czech Republic" initiative. The protest assembly lasted for roughly one hour and took place without any larger incidents.  full story

Czech Republic's "Romani elite" are under pressure

Brno/Trimice, 17.1.2015 3:04, (ROMEA) In addition to the charges of producing and distributing illegal drugs recently filed against a local Romani councilor in Trmice, Marcel Cichý, there is another, less dramatic and less visible problem affecting the country's Romani elite. The matter is a serious one nonetheless: One of the few media outlets focusing on Romani people, the magazine Romano hangos, is in a deep crisis and its original editors are in a state of conflict with one another.  full story

Czech Police investigate brawl between gaming room bouncers and Romani customers in Ostrava

Ostrava, 16.1.2015 19:47, (ROMEA) A large group of Romani customers attacked security guards on Wednesday at a gaming room in Ostrava-Bělský Les. The scuffle between the bodyguards and the customers happened
after members of the security team removed two Romani customers from the premises.  full story

Czech Republic: Local party believes Romani member is innocent of drug charges

Trmice, 15.1.2015 17:30, (ROMEA) Detectives have charged Marcel Cichý, a primary school teacher and local councilor in Trmice elected for the "Together for Trmice" movement, with illegal distribution of drugs. News server Romea.cz publishes a statement on his arrest from the "Together for Trmice" movement in full translation here:  full story

European Commission not satisfied with Czech response to discrimination of Romani children

Brussels/Prague, 15.1.2015 16:57, (ROMEA) According to new information reported by Czech Television, the European Commission is not satisfied with the response of the Czech Government regarding the issue of the discrimination of Romani children in the schools. An official response to the Government will be sent by Brussels within the next few weeks.  full story

Czech anti-drug police arrest local Romani councilor

Ústí nad Labem, 15.1.2015 16:11, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that detectives have charged Marcel Cichý, a local councilor and teacher at a primary school in Trmice, with distributing drugs. Cichý and other Romani candidates in the "Together for Trmice" (Independent Choice) movement won election to the local council last October with 19.22 % of the vote, ending up in second place and taking three seats.  full story

Czech Government grants asylum to 15 families from Syria

Prague, 15.1.2015 0:21, (ROMEA) The Czech Government has agreed to grant asylum to refugees from Syria. Czech Deputy Prime Minister Pavel Bělobrádek (Christian Democrats - KDU-ČSL) announced the decision on Twitter on 14 January.  full story

Czech Republic: Local theater company stages German play about brutal neo-Nazi murder

Ústí nad Labem, 14.1.2015 22:54, (ROMEA) The Činoherák Ústí theater club is producing a play entitled "The Kick" by Andres Veiel and Gesine Schmidt, based on the true story of the brutal murder of a 16-year-old boy in the East German village of Potzlow. The ensemble will hold a preview performance at the Činoherní studio (Drama Studio) in the Střekov quarter on Friday.  full story

Commentary: Multiculturalism has succeeded and is our greatest chance for peaceful coexistence

Prague, 14.1.2015 20:33, (ROMEA) Multiculturalism has succeeded and continues to be our greatest chance for peaceful coexistence, not only in the Euro-Atlantic world, but for the whole planet. Never before has the civilized world, led by intellectual elites of all faiths, been so united in condemning radical Islamists.
 full story

Czech Republic enters next round of the fight over Romani children and special education

Prague, 14.1.2015 18:22, (ROMEA) The fact that too many children, particularly Romani ones, attend "special schools" in the Czech Republic is a problem that experts and politicians have been discussing here for 25 years. It is also being discussed abroad, because the Czech Republic has reaped criticism from the European Union for it as well.  full story

Czech Republic: Hundreds of illegally sterilized women will probably be compensated

Prague, 14.1.2015 17:09, (ROMEA) The victims of illegal sterilizations could be compensated as much as CZK 300 000 (EUR 10 000) in the coming years. Those who did not give their informed consent to such an operation prior to undergoing it would be eligible for compensation.  full story

Commentary: European demonstrations for unity give us hope, demagogues take it away

Paris/Prague, 13.1.2015 19:24, (ROMEA) On Sunday 11 January, millions demonstrated in Paris for social unity, with French citizens across all of society taking up a common cause. "We must not create amalgams," the French are saying.  full story