Czech Republic

Czech Republic: Racist graffiti on Romani candidate's election poster

Prostějov, 11.9.2014 19:02, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that racist slogans such as "Black mug" and "Don't vote for niggers" have recently turned up on election posters for the ANO movement in the Czech town of Prostějov. Ondřej Provazník, a local 18-year-old Romani candidate for the movement, is the target.  full story

Czech Republic: Campaign offers young Roma a guide to the world of finance

Prague, 11.9.2014 17:12, (ROMEA) "Got what it takes?" ("Máš na to?") is the name of a new campaign from the ROMEA organization aiming to assist young Romani people with taking responsibility for themselves and their financial situations. The campaign familiarizes them with the basics of money management and the dangers of the debt trap, offering them useful tips and helping them solve problems.  full story

Czech Republic: Equal Opportunities Party files charges against ultra-right party leaders

Děčín/Prague, 11.9.2014 0:18, (ROMEA) Miroslav Kováč, chair of the Equal Opportunities Party (Strana rovných příležitostí - SRP), has announced that his party has filed criminal charges against DSSS chair Tomáš Vandas and vice-chair Jiří Štěpánek. News server Romea.cz is publishing this article by Kováč about those charges in full translation:  full story

Czech court acquits editor, publisher of Hitler's speeches of approving genocide

Brno, 10.9.2014 23:18, (ROMEA) Today the Municipal Court in Brno acquitted Pavel Kamas and Lukáš Novák, the owners of the Guidemedia publishing house, and publicist Stanislav Beer of approving genocide by publishing a book entitled "Adolf Hitler: Speeches" (Adolf Hitler: Projevy). The court found that publishing the book did not constitute a crime.  full story

Czech Police charge man with producing clothing with neo-Nazi symbols

Nový Jičín, 10.9.2014 17:11, (ROMEA) Police in the Czech Republic have charged a 23-year-old man from the Nový Jičín area with advertising, producing and selling clothing featuring neo-Nazi symbols. He ran the enterprise for almost a year using his father's business license.  full story

Czech youth brutally assaulted for defending Romani girlfriend

Prague, 8.9.2014 22:49, (ROMEA) Police officers are looking for the young perpetrators of a racially motivated assault that occurred on 19 August at the Plaňanská bus stop in Prague 10 and would like anyone who witnessed the incident to call 158. The young man who was targeted fell unconscious to the ground during the attack.  full story

Czech regulator finds radio station broke law with anti-Romani broadcasts

Prague, 8.9.2014 21:35, (ROMEA) The Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (Rada pro rozhlasové a televizní vysílání - RRTV) is asking the Impuls radio station in the Czech Republic to correct its broadcasting of opinions about Romani people that the regulator has indicated are prejudicial. According to Impuls's PR manager, the station will not appeal the RRTV decision and will uphold the deadline by which to make the corrections.  full story

Former Czech EdMin to become Education Ombud, defends segregation

Prague, 27.8.2014 22:05, (ROMEA) The new position of Education Ombud in the Czech Republic will be taken up by former Czech Education Minister Eduard Zeman in mid-September. In an interview for Czech Radio regarding Roma access to education, Zeman said he considers the country's "practical schools" to be uniquely Czech and sees nothing wrong with them.  full story

Czech Republic: Commemorative ceremony for Romani Holocaust victims at Hodonín

Hodonín u Kunštátu, 26.8.2014 12:52, (ROMEA) Seventy-one years ago, the Nazis transported the largest group of Romani prisoners from the so-called "gypsy camp" at Hodonín u Kunštátu to the extermination concentration camp of Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Few returned from there alive.  full story

Czech chamber of experts on gender equality being created

Prague, 25.8.2014 17:12, (ROMEA) A chamber of experts dedicated to the issue of equality beween men and women is being created in the Czech Republic. The body will bring together qualified people from academia and from various specialized areas of practice to focus on the issue.  full story

Trafficking in poverty costing the Czech state a billion a month, speculators profiting

Prague, 25.8.2014 15:07, (ROMEA) The volume of state benefits paid out to subsidize housing for the impoverished in the Czech Republic grew during the past year by one-fourth, and the owners of residential hotels are profiting in particular. Local governments are reportedly doing their best to restrict this trafficking in poverty by buying out such facilities or by offering the recipients of housing benefits the opportunity to live in "training apartments".  full story

videoCzech Republic: Anti-Romani demonstration a fiasco, ultra-right duped by their opponents

Děčín, 23.8.2014 21:52, (ROMEA) The Czech town of Děčín has experienced yet another anti-Romani demonstration, this time under the baton of the right-wing extremists from the Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS). The last hateful demonstration prior to this one in Děčín was organized by the notorious con artist Lukáš Kohout on Wednesday, 13 August.  full story

Czech Radio archive has Romani-language recording from the 1968 invasion

Prague, 21.8.2014 21:50, (ROMEA) News server iHNED.cz reports that for years a Romani-language recording from 25 August 1968 has gone unnoticed in the Czech Radio archive. The Czechoslovak Radio broadcasts during and after the 1968 invasion are considered historic.  full story

Commemoration of the 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia

Prague, 21.8.2014 18:28, (ROMEA) Today's commemoration of the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the armies of the Warsaw Pact, which took place at the instigation of the Soviet Union in August 1968, began at 10 AM in front of the National Museum in Prague. The event was held by the "Without Communists" (Bez komunistů) initiative, and was advertised as "More significant than ever given events in the east."  full story

Czech Interior Ministry plans amendment to law on assembly

Prague, 21.8.2014 15:38, (ROMEA) The Czech Interior Ministry has elaborated an amendment to the law on the right to assemble on the basis of its experiences with demonstrations in recent years. The deadline for the draft amendment to be submitted to the Government is the end of October 2014 with a proposed date of effect of 1 July 2015.  full story

Czech con artist Kohout lies about support from famous figures

Prague, 20.8.2014 22:19, (ROMEA) Lukáš Kohout, who says he is running for mayor of the Czech town of Varnsdorf, has perpetrated yet another trick. His website lists the names of famous figures from cultural and political life along with quotes that supposedly express their appreciation and support of him.  full story

Czech trial of eight charged with promoting neo-Nazism to resume

Prague, 20.8.2014 2:14, (ROMEA) The District Court for Prague 1 will be returning on 6 October to the case of the former members of the now-defunct Workers' Party (Dělnická strana - DS) and other right-wing extremists who have been charged with promoting neo-Nazism. The scheduling was announced by www.justice.cz, which is the official website of the Czech judiciary.  full story

Czech trial of two Romani men charged with throwing paving stones at their neighbors

Plzeň, 20.8.2014 1:45, (ROMEA) Yesterday the Regional Court in Plzeň began reviewing the case of 20-year-old David Matuš and his 34-year-old uncle, Radek Matuš, who have been charged with attacking their neighbors this past March in the town of Strýčkovice (Domažlice district). The two Romani men, who according to the indictment attacked their neighbors with paving stones and rocks and threatened to kill them, face up to five years in prison if convicted.  full story

Czech hospitals refuse medical records to women sterilized against their will

Prague, 19.8.2014 18:35, (ROMEA) Several hospitals in the Czech Republic are reportedly refusing to give women who were sterilized in their facilities without their informed consent the medical records of those procedures. In some cases records are said to no longer exist because they were destroyed during recent floods.  full story

Czech con artist who organized anti-Romani protest to serve 10 months in prison

Česká Lípa, 18.8.2014 18:17, (ROMEA) The notorious con artist Lukáš Kohout must serve the remaining 10 months of the 28-month prison sentence he received after he was convicted of having impersonated an assistant to then-Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kavan, also the chair of the UN General Assembly, and flying to exotic countries during 2002 with state money. The decision of the District Court in Česká Lípa has taken effect.  full story