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Czech Republic: Two neo-Nazis charged in 2012 arson

Plzeň, 6.8.2014 16:42, (ROMEA) The Czech state prosecutor has charged two men who are promoters of neo-Nazi groups with committing an arson attack on a Romani-occupied residential hotel in the town of Aš in 2012. The daily Právo reported yesterday that the men face between 15 and 20 years in prison or even the possibility of extraordinary punishment if convicted of racially motivated attempted murder.  full story

Czech Republic: Roma say MP has denied the Romani Holocaust and discredited the victims of Nazism

Prague, 5.8.2014 20:18, (ROMEA) Czech MP Tomio Okamura's recent statements doubting the suffering of those imprisoned at the concentration camp in Lety by Písek have sparked an enormous wave of negative reaction. News server Romea.cz publishes below the opinions of several Romani people whom we contacted for comment.  full story

Jana Horváthová: Hodonín and Lety functioned as concentration camps

Brno, 5.8.2014 18:02, (ROMEA) Tomio Okamura is mistaken and his ignorant remarks have done further damage to his already-tarnished image. I am not very surprised, since as an historian I encounter relatively well-educated people rather often who mix up the various phases in the life of the camps that were in operation during the time of the Protectorate.  full story

Czech Republic: Ex-MP on probation for inciting hatred against Roma to appeal

Prague, 5.8.2014 16:36, (ROMEA) The Czech daily Hospodářské noviny reports that former Czech MP Otto Chaloupka has been placed on probation for six months by the Prague 1 District Court for remarks he made about Romani people on the Facebook social networking site. The court issued its ruling without a hearing in April.  full story

Czech Republic: Shocking testimonies from the Lety concentration camp

Prague, 4.8.2014 22:27, (ROMEA) Speaking on the eve of Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, Czech MP Tomio Okamura, the chair of the "Dawn of Direct Democracy" (Úsvit) movement, has insulted the victims of the former concentration camp at Lety by Písek when he said in a statement for the political tabloid ParlamentniListy.cz that it was a lie and a myth to call Lety a concentration camp for Roma. Okamura claims no one was ever killed at the camp and that the imprisoned people who died there did so as a result of old age and the diseases they had brought there with them as a result of their traveling way of life.  full story

Čeněk Růžička: Okamura and those like him speak the language of criminals

Prague, 4.8.2014 21:17, (ROMEA) To tell you the truth, we traditional Czech Romani and Sinti people are no longer surprised by the remarks made by the Okamuras, Klauses, Čuněks, Doubravas, Řápkovás or Janáčkovás. During the time we have been living in the Czech lands, we have gotten used to quite a lot.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister: Okamura must resign

Prague, 4.8.2014 20:32, (ROMEA) Czech Human Rights Minister for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Legislation Jiří Dienstbier (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) is convinced that Czech MP Tomio Okamura, the head of the "Dawn of Direct Democracy" movement (Úsvit) must resign from all of his political offices because of his controversial remarks about the Lety concentration camp. Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (ČSSD) said he believes Okamura is using the language of Protectorate propaganda from before 1945.  full story

Czech town cancels apartment tender after Romani woman makes the best offer

Brno, 4.8.2014 19:17, (ROMEA) The Czech Public Defender of Rights has drawn the attention of the Chamber of Deputies to a case of possible discrimination on the grounds of ethnic origin in access to housing as part of her report on her office's activity during the second quarter. A town has canceled its tender for leasing a municipally-owned apartment after a Romani applicant made the best offer.  full story

Czech MP Okamura insults Romani victims of the Holocaust, media and politicians sharply criticize him

Prague, 4.8.2014 17:46, (ROMEA) Czech MP Tomio Okamura, the chair of the "Dawn of Direct Democracy movement" (Úsvit) spit in the faces of the victims of the former concentration camp at Lety by Písek when he was quoted in the online political tabloid ParlamentniListy.cz as saying it was a lie and a myth to call Lety a Romani concentration camp. Okamura claimed no one was ever killed at Lety and that the people imprisoned there had died either as a result of old age or as a result of diseases they brought with them to the camp that they caught as a result of their previous travelling lifestyle.  full story

Czech Police say attack on disabled man was not committed by a Romani person

Česká Lípa, 4.8.2014 2:25, (ROMEA) "A Rom attacks and robs a wheelchair user near the Andy department store in Česká Lípa..." - this was the title accompanying a video recording posted to YouTube last Thursday from the mobile telephone of Radek Bachtík, who according to the tabloid news server Blesk.cz is a 20-year-old high school student. The dramatic video shows a man kicking a wheelchair user in the face and has begun to spread online like an avalanche.  full story

John Kerry: Statement in Commemoration of the World War II Genocide of Roma

Washington, 2.8.2014 21:07, (ROMEA) We pause today to mourn and remember the hundreds of thousands of Romani men, women and children who were savagely and senselessly murdered by the Nazis during World War II.  full story

Council of Europe: Handbook Launched on Remembrance Day of the Roma Holocaust

Strasbourg, 2.8.2014 20:54, (ROMEA) Even in 2014 many people have never heard of the Roma genocide or porrajmos in which at least half a million Roma died. A new handbook, launched on August 2 – Roma and Sinti Genocide Remembrance Day – is designed to change that.  full story

European Roma and Sinti commemorate 70th anniversary of the gassing of 3 000 Roma and Sinti at Auschwitz

Oswiecim, Poland, 2.8.2014 18:00, (ROMEA) Former concentration camp prisoners, representatives of Romani organizations, and young Romani people all commemorated the 70th anniversary of the liquidation of the so-called "gypsy camp" in the Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz. During the night of 2 August and the morning of 3 August 1944, the last 3 000 Romani and Sinti children and women left in the camp were murdered in the gas chambers there.  full story

Ahead of 70th anniversary of “Gypsy camp” liquidation at Auschwitz-Birkenau, ODIHR Director urges leaders to speak out against anti-Roma rhetoric

Warsaw, 2.8.2014 15:49, (ROMEA) Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), speaking ahead of Saturday’s 70th anniversary of the liquidation of the “Zigeunerlager”, or “Gypsy Camp”, at Auschwitz-Birkenau called today on political leaders not only to refrain from scapegoating Roma and Sinti communities, but also to speak out against racist rhetoric in public discourse that can fuel anti-Roma sentiment in society.  full story

Czech NGO wants to buy buildings from which Romani tenants were evicted

Ostrava, 2.8.2014 2:07, (ROMEA) The Life Together (Vzájemné soužití) NGO, led by Kumar Vishwanathan, wants to buy buildings on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava which are now going up for auction. News server Lidovky.cz reports that the NGO's aim is to make it possible for the Romani tenants who were evicted from the properties to return to their homes.  full story

ERTF commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Genocide on Roma

Brussels, 1.8.2014 23:58, (ROMEA) With a minute of silence at noon beside the Holocaust memorial stone in front of the Palais de l'Europe in Strasbourg, the European Forum for Roma and Travellers (ERTF) remembered more than 3,000 Roma exterminated by the German Nazis during the night of 2-3 August 1944 in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.  full story

UN: Ensuring the right to remembrance and dignity for the Roma people

geneva/New York, 1.8.2014 23:53, (ROMEA) On the 70th anniversary of the Roma Holocaust –‘Porrajmos’ or ‘Pharrajimos’– two United Nations human rights experts urge all governments around the world to ensure the right to remembrance for the Roma people.  full story

Czech Helsinki Committee, Human Rights Minister draft law to compensate forced sterilization victims

Prague, 1.8.2014 23:32, (ROMEA) The Czech Helsinki Committee and Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) are preparing a draft law on compensating people who have been forcibly sterilized. The victims would reportedly receive anywhere between CZK 100 000 and CZK 150 000 (EUR 3 600 and EUR 5 400).  full story

Czech Culture Minister wants to solve the problem of the pig farm at Lety

Lety u Písku, 1.8.2014 22:48, (ROMEA) Paying his respects to Romani Holocaust victims while commemorating the former "gypsy camp" at Lety by Písek, Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman (Christian Democrats - KDU-ČSL) said there must be zero tolerance for hatred, racism and xenophobia in the Czech Republic. The minister said he believes such sentiments should not be taken lightly.  full story

Czech MP apologizes for insulting children in state care

Prague, 1.8.2014 16:43, (ROMEA) Czech MP Marek Benda (Civic Democrats - ODS), speaking on a Czech Television program, insulted children who are wards of the state by saying they are "of no use". The MP made the insulting remarks during a debate with Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) when the conversation turned to adopting children in state care.  full story