Czech Republic

Czech town recalls councilor for violating strategic agreement on real estate sales

Obrnice, 12.6.2014 0:40, (ROMEA) Members of the town council of Obrnice (Most district) voted last month to recall Boris Ležal (Czech Social Democratic Party) from his position as a town councilor. The municipality says Ležal violated a strategic agreement concluded with the local government on the sale of apartments or apartment buildings.  full story

Czech Muslims plan Constitutional complaint over raid on mosque

Prague, 12.6.2014 0:09, (ROMEA) The Center of Muslim Communities in the Czech Republic (Ústředí muslimských obcí v ČR) is preparing a constitutional complaint over a recent police raid on their mosques in Prague. Munib Hasan Alravi, chair of the center, informed the Czech News Agency of the move on 5 June.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani figures rebuke Romani entrepreneur for anti-Roma slurs

Brno/Prague, 11.6.2014 23:22, (ROMEA) The Brno-based entrepreneur Rastislav Lučanský, who recently ran as an EP candidate, will be leaving the Romani Democratic Party (Romská demokratická strana- RDS) to establish his own political movement. Lučanský is said to have failed to reach an understanding with his RDS colleagues.  full story

Roma who won lawsuit against Czech Republic still can't find jobs

Prague, 11.6.2014 20:13, (ROMEA) It was a surprise in 2007 when 18 Romani schoolchildren from Ostrava won their lawsuit against the Czech Republic. The European Court for Human Rights recognized at the time that the state had discriminated against them in their access to education.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister: Success will be equal representation of minorities in inclusive education

Prague, 10.6.2014 23:29, (ROMEA) Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (Czech Social Democrats - ČSSD) says the will of local politicians and the securing of popular support are the basic prerequisites for a good starting point for including minorities into mainstream society. He made the remarks in an interview with the Czech daily Lidové noviny which the ČSSD party has published on its website; news server Romea.cz brings you that interview in full translation.  full story

Czech Region must pay more than EUR 7 million for subsidy distribution errors

Liberec, 9.6.2014 23:39, (ROMEA) Errors committed recently in the distribution of social services funds in Liberec Region did not constitute a felony. Police have shelved the case.  full story

Czech judge who dissolved neo-Nazi party joins Constitutional Court

Brno/Prague, 9.6.2014 22:42, (ROMEA) On 30 May the Czech Senate approved Czech President Miloš Zeman's proposal to promote Judge Vojtěch Šimíček to the Constitutional Court. Šimíček chaired a panel at the Supreme Administrative Court that decides on electoral and political party cases.  full story

Czech Republic: Residential hotel set on fire in Liberec

Liberec, 9.6.2014 21:27, (ROMEA) Late afternoon Sunday a residential hotel on U Kolory Street in Liberec caught fire. Residents were evacuated before firefighters arrived and no one was injured.  full story

Czech Ghettofest attracts almost 3 000 this year

Brno, 9.6.2014 19:34, (ROMEA) The streets of Brno's "Bronx" were alive with the arts, culture and entertainment brought there by Ghettofest during the weekend of 6 - 8 June. The number of visitors exceeded previous years, approaching 3 000 people over the course of all three days.  full story

Czech Senate likely to reject European Commission's urging on Romani measures

Prague, 9.6.2014 17:43, (ROMEA) The Czech Senate is evidently planning to object to the European Commission instructing the Member States on specific measures for the social inclusion of Romani people. The upper chamber's EU Committee has recommended the Commission's instructions to that body.  full story

Czech right-wing extremists march through town where Romani arson victims live

Budišov nad Budišovkou, 9.6.2014 17:13, (ROMEA) On Saturday a demonstration was held in the town of Budišov nad Budišovkou that was advertised as a "Commemorative march for Viktor Švarc". Right-wing extremists attempted to exploit the as-yet unsolved death of Mr Švarc, who was 28 years old when he died.  full story

Czech Police again report fabricated attack by "dark-skinned" person as real

Prague/Jihlava, 8.6.2014 3:24, (ROMEA) The Czech Police evidently still do not know how to go about publicizing information from their investigations. Many examples to back up this claim exist, but the most recent is, of course, the most typical: The existence of fabricated reports of "muggings" which the police (and subsequently, several media outlets) present to the public as having actually occurred through their initially poorly-formulated press releases.  full story

Czech ministers visit excluded localities in Karviná, Labor Minister visits Chomutov

Chomutov/Karviná, 7.6.2014 23:32, (ROMEA) Yesterday Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec and Labor and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksová Tominová paid a joint visit to the Moravian-Silesian Region. The ministers specifically visited socially excluded localities in the town of Karviná.  full story

Czech Republic: Interview with Alica Heráková, founder of Ghettofest

Brno, 6.6.2014 22:59, (ROMEA) Alica Heráková lives in the neighborhood of the Czech city of Brno around Bratislavská and Cejl Streets that is nicknamed the "Bronx". She has decided to convince the residents of Brno that the quarter is not actually a dangerous place that should be avoided.  full story

Czech state to expand public contract conditions on hiring the unemployed

Prague, 6.6.2014 19:54, (ROMEA) The Czech Labor Minister intends to implement the hiring of unemployed persons through public procurement contracts. Several municipalities have already introduced criteria for this.  full story

Czech Senator Dryml appeals fine for verbal abuse

Prague, 5.6.2014 23:54, (ROMEA) Czech Senator Vladimír Dryml, formerly a supporter of Czech President Zeman and a former member of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), has decided to file a constitutional complaint against the Senate. The upper chamber has upheld a verdict issued by its Parliamentary Immunity Committee fining the senator CZK 20 000 for verbally abusing a doctor from Yemen.  full story

Czech Equal Opportunities Party has new chair

Prague, 5.6.2014 23:28, (ROMEA) After the failure of the Equal Opportunities Party during the recent elections for the European Parliament, Štefan Tišer has resigned his post as chair. The party's new chair is its former adviser, Miroslav Kováč.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister on his visit to the Ústí Region

Czech Republic, 5.6.2014 22:32, (ROMEA) Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier has recently visited the towns of Duchcov, Prunéřov u Kadaně, Krupka and the Šluknov district to learn how local governments are approaching the problems of social inclusion that are arising there. "It's obvious that various approaches are being taken to the same problem," he summarized.  full story

Czech firm only rents ghetto apartments to Romani tenants

Litvínov, 5.6.2014 19:39, (ROMEA) Romani people belong in the ghetto, not among "normal people". According to the testimony of several Romani residents of the Czech town of Litvínov, that seems to be the motto of the private real estate firm CPI BYTY these days.  full story

Czech political prisoners of communism say the Jáchymov concentration camp must be remembered

Jáchymov, 4.6.2014 22:18, (ROMEA) Former political prisoners in the Czech Republic have gathered for the 25th time to commemorate the horrors undergone during the 1950s in the concentration camps at Jáchymov and other uranium mines by thousands of people considered subversives by the communist regime. Speaking in front of the Church of St. Jáchym, Vladimír Chlupáč, who was imprisoned for 9.5 years in Jáchymov, said young people must be constantly reminded of the hell of what went on there, as it is a national disgrace.  full story