Czech Republic

Commentary: Czech antigypsyism, or, a report on the state of the country

Prague, 26.3.2013 23:57, (ROMEA) I have been systematically reporting on the lives of people living in ghettos, the activity of the ultra-right, and the state of the media with respect to the topic of Romani people, including analysis and criticism. My experiences in doing this work, or rather the topics I have been involved with during it, are alarming.  full story

videoCzech court upholds acquittal, light sentence for assailants of human rights monitor

Most, 26.3.2013 1:04, (ROMEA) An appeals court has once again reviewed the November 2008 assault of activist Ondřej Cakl during a neo-Nazi demonstration at the Janov housing estate in Litvínov. The court did not accept Cakl's reasoning and has upheld the sentence handed down against one of the assailants by the first-instance court. The appeals court also upheld the acquittal of a second alleged assailant  full story

German court convicts kidnappers of infant from Czech Republic

Koblenz, Germany, 25.3.2013 16:53, (ROMEA) The state court in the German town of Koblenz has sentenced the two kidnappers of a newborn girl from the town of Trmice in the Ústí Region of the Czech Republic to four and a half years in prison. The verdict has yet to take effect.  full story

videoCzech cops edited footage of brutal intervention against Romani woman for media

Prague, 25.3.2013 1:04, (ROMEA) TV Nova, the Czech Republic's most-watched private television channel, has managed to acquire video footage of a controversial intervention by municipal police in the town of Rokycany during which a pram with an infant in it was overturned on the street. The 16-month-old boy escaped serious injury through sheer luck.  full story

Czech Helsinki Committee publishes shadow report on discrimination and racism

Prague, 23.3.2013 19:44, (ROMEA) On the occasion of the International Day against Racism, the Czech Helsinki Committee (Český helsinský výbor - ČHV) has published a shadow report on racism in the Czech Republic and in Europe. The report is issued annually by the European Network against Racism (ENAR), an umbrella organization of hundreds of human rights groups from 26 countries.This most recent report maps the situation during 2011 and part of 2012. The English-language summary report, "Racism in Europe", is available here: http://www.romea.cz/dokumenty/SR_EU-2012.pdf  full story

videoCzech cop knocks 16-month-old from pram during altercation with mother

Rokycany, 23.3.2013 0:45, (ROMEA) The Mediafax press agency and TV Nova report that municipal police in the Czech town of Rokycany have brutally, unreasonably intervened against a woman who was walking down the street with her child and her dog. While intervening because the woman's dog was not on a leash, a patrolman overturned the pram and the 16-month-old boy inside it fell to the ground. While the child ended up with "just" a bump to the head, he came close to smashing his skull on the curb.  full story

Czech EdMin: "Practical primary schools" will not be closed

Prague, 22.3.2013 15:19, (ROMEA) Speaking today in the Senate, Czech Education Minister Petr Fiala said the "practical primary schools" will not be closed. Nevertheless, he said that because of a judgment from the European Court of Human Rights, it is essential to change the fact that some pupils end up in these schools only because they come from socially disadvantaged environments or even because of their ethnic background.  full story

Czech town bans social housing

Libáň, 22.3.2013 1:49, (ROMEA) If you were to decide to help a family in distress find dignified housing, you would encounter stiff opposition in the East Bohemian town of Libaň. On Wednesday, 20 March 2013, the Libáň town council met to review a request filed by one of its citizens, Stanislav Penc, but only after various individuals, non-state organizations, and state bodies had called on the town to do so. Penc has now received the opportunity to publicly present his request. Last fall he asked the town leadership to agree to his plan to build an apartment building that will feature social apartments.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani residents won't budge without a fight

Prague, 21.3.2013 23:37, (ROMEA) On Sunday, 18 March at the Café v lese in Prague, a public discussion took place about recent events concernign the housing situation on Přednádraží street in Ostrava and in the Předlice quarter of Ústí nad Labem. The discussion was followed by a benefit concert by the bands Fakné, Potmě, Čokovoko and Vobezdud, called "Number 8 Lives" (Osmička žije!) Building number 8 is the last residential building on Přednádraží street that is still occupied, and its occupants need financial and other support. The benefit was organized by the SOS Přednádraží initiative and the discussion was co-organized by the Housing for All (Bydlení pro všechny) initiative.  full story

Czech Republic: Skinhead to serve life in prison for murdering elderly couple

Hradec Králové, 19.3.2013 15:55, (ROMEA) The Czech Press Agency reports that state prosecutor Eva Prskavcová has announced that the sentence of life in prison has taken effect for 19-year-old Tomáš Vít, who brutally murdered an elderly couple in Trutnov last year. The High Court in Prague was supposed to have reviewed the verdict tomorrow, but the young defendant unexpectedly withdrew his appeal.  full story

Czech town installs CCTV cameras after fabricated claims of assault

Břeclav, 18.3.2013 22:55, (ROMEA) Town councilors and police patrols in the Czech town of Břeclav are praising the CCTV system that has been running in the town since the new year. They have managed to solve 40 illegal acts thanks to the footage, from shoplifting to vandalism.  full story

Roma Crisis Committee to Czech EdMin: Equal access to education for Roma

Prague, 18.3.2013 20:31, (ROMEA) Young Romani people associated with the Crisis Committee (Krizový štáb) have written an open letter to the Czech Education Minister and Prime Minister in which they express their support for inclusive education and the necessary measures which the Government and the Education Ministry should adopt to ensure equal access to education for all citizens of the Czech Republic. "Currently Romani children continue to be disproportionately enrolled into 'practical primary schools' that educate their pupils according to the primary education program's appendix for pupils with light mental disability," states the open letter. News server Romea.cz publishes it in full translation below.  full story

Czech Republic: Jan Horvátko, another Olah king, passes away

Prostějov, 16.3.2013 17:43, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that on Wednesday, 13 March, yet another Olah king, Jan Horvátko (nicknamed Bobko) passed away after a long period of health problems. Jan Lipa of Ostrava, who shared the post of king with Horvátko, also passed away last October. Horvátko's funeral was held today at 9 AM in Prostějov's main cemetery.  full story

Czech President's remarks aggravate Journalists' Syndicate

Prague, 15.3.2013 22:07, (ROMEA) The Czech Journalists' Syndicate (Syndikát novinářů) is alarmed by the fact that Czech President Miloš Zeman compared some of the Czech media to neo-Nazi militants and organized crime in his inaugural address and has sent an open letter to him in response. "This downgrading of a significant part of the Czech media is all the more striking because it is our firm conviction that the better part of the Czech media are precisely those who have steadfastly, systematically pointed out the dangers linked to the infiltration of organized crime into politics and the threat to democracy in the Czech Republic posed by extremist movements," reads the letter, which is signed by Syndicate chair Adam Černý.  full story

Czech Republic: Inter-ministerial group on Roma has new members

Prague, 15.3.2013 16:08, (ROMEA) At its cabinet session on Wednesday, the Czech Government took up the nomination of David Tišer and Emil Voráč as new members of the Czech Government Inter-ministerial Commission for Roma Community Affairs. Tišer is director of the ARA ART, o.s. association and has long worked as an activist promoting Roma integration, fighting against the discrimination of Roma and advocating for the media to report on the life of the Romani minority in the Czech Republic. Voráč is the chair and director of the o. s. Khamoro – Romské integrační centrum (Roma Integration Center) organization, which offers socially excluded Roma a drop-in facility for children and youth, field social work programs, professional social counseling and temporary shelter.  full story

Benefit concert in Prague for resisters of gentrification in Ostrava

Prague, 14.3.2013 15:14, (ROMEA) A benefit concert to raise money to repair building no. 8 on Přednádraží street in Ostrava will be held this Sunday 17 March at 20:00 at the Café V Lese in Prague (http://cafevlese.cz/en). The program is jam-packed.  full story

Czech Police: Attackers of Slovak man shouted "Antifa Praha"

Prague, 13.3.2013 23:27, (ROMEA) Police officers in Prague are searching for unidentified perpetrators who allegedly assaulted a man at the Florenc bus station after he disembarked there last month. Police say the assailants shouted "Antifa Praha" several times during the attack. The man was hospitalized as a result of the beating.  full story

Czech court hears appeals in case of racist attack against Romani man last August

Ostrava, 12.3.2013 15:23, (ROMEA) Yesterday the Regional Court heard appeals from convicted offender Martin Smolko and from the Havířov District Attorney in the matter of a racist attack committed last August in Havířov. A first-instance court issued its verdict in the case in January 2013.  full story

Czech region asks police to investigate European Social Fund allocations

Liberec, 12.3.2013 14:32, (ROMEA) Today's Liberec edition of the daily Mladá fronta DNES (MfD) reports that the Liberec Regional Authority wants the allocation of social subsidies in recent years to be investigated by police. Due to errors in the management of those subsidies and insufficient oversight, the region may have to return millions of Czech crowns received from EU funds for spending on social projects. A recent audit has revealed that not only have some subsidy recipients committed errors, but that the blame lies mainly with politicians and regional bureaucrats.  full story

Romani groups ask Czech mayor to prohibit ultra-rightist march on 1 May

Přerov, 12.3.2013 0:09, (ROMEA) The Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu - VPORH), the Equal Opportunities Party (Strana rovných příležitostí - SRP) and other Romani initiatives have called on the Mayor of Přerov, Jiří Lajtoch (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) to prohibit the upcoming march by ultra-right extremists from the Workers' Youth (Dělnická mládež - DM) and the Workers' Social Justice Party (DSSS) on 1 May 2013. The groups are planning to march through streets predominantly inhabited by Romani residents.  full story