ČTK

71 Czech towns plan to ban housing benefits and make life harder for the poorest of the poor

21.4.2018 8:36 Zones with an alleged "increased incidence of undesirable phenomena" in which new applicants will not be able to receive housing benefits have been announced or are planned for 71 cities and municipalities throughout the Czech Republic. The Institute for Social Inclusion (IPSI) announced the news on 12 April.  full story

VIDEO: First-instance verdict in the Chomutov shooting case - 12.5 years

19.4.2018 9:02 The Regional Court in Ústí nad Labem has sentenced 37-year-old Petr Benda to 12.5 years in prison for shooting dead a Romani man behind the wheel of a van last spring at a housing estate in Chomutov. Benda faced as many as 20 years in prison for firing 13 bullets at the van driven by Radek Š.  full story

Norway confirms it will give EUR 1 million to create memorial to Romani genocide at Lety

17.4.2018 10:58 Norwegian Ambasador Siri Ellen Sletner confirmed yesterday at Lety u Písku that Norway wants to contribute one million euro to building a memorial to the Holocaust and its Romani victims at the site of a former concentration camp which until recently was being used for a pig farm. The Museum of Romani Culture, which is managing the remembrance site, has now opened an information center at the Lety municipality about the genocide of Romani people in Bohemia.

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Czech Police arrest two Romani men for attack on police, confirm media exaggerated the incident

17.4.2018 6:32 Police have charged two men in connection with an assault committed against a police patrol in the town of Krupka (Teplice district). Teplice Police spokesperson Daniel Vítek informed the media of the charges on 13 April.  full story

Czech Justice Minister leaving politics because most of his fellow ANO members hold different opinions about human rights

16.4.2018 15:31 Czech Justice Minister Robert Pelikán (ANO) will not be in the next Government and is ending his political career. News server Aktuálně.cz published an interview in which he made the announcement on 8 April.  full story

Hundreds commemorate Romani victims of WWII-era camp, criticize Czech politicians for Holocaust denial

16.4.2018 6:57 The Czech News Agency has reported that on 9 April approximately 300 people in the town of České Budějovice joined a commemorative ceremony for the victims of the concentration camp in Lety u Písku. Those assembled held a minute of silence and brought papers with the names of the camp victims and their birth and death dates written on them.  full story

Czech President pushing Czech PM into Government with right-wing extremists

15.4.2018 13:26 Czech President Miloš Zeman has recommended that outgoing Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) continue to negotiate forming a new Government with the Communists and the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) movement. Babiš informed the press of the President's recommendations after meeting him at the presidential residence on 11 April.  full story

Hungarian pro-Government weekly publishes blacklist naming alleged "non-conformists"

13.4.2018 13:47 Yesterday Hungary's pro-Government Figyelö weekly published the names of 200 people whose views do not conform to those of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, alleging that they belong to a group the PM has labeled as "mercenaries" working for the American financier of Hungarian origin George Soros, according to the Associated Press. The blacklist includes primarily members of groups defending human rights, anti-corruption organizations, defenders of refugees, investigative journalists, and also officials of the Central European University (CEU), headquartered in Budapest, which was established by Soros.  full story

Czech trial of last year's murder of a Romani man in Chomutov, defendant claims he was trying to protect people

9.4.2018 14:57 On 4 April the Regional Court in Ústí nad Labem began to hear the case of last year's murder at a housing estate in Chomutov. Petr Benda (age 37) faces up to 20 years in prison and has been charged with firing his weapon 13 times at a van being driven by Radek Š.  full story

Czech city names first-ever public place after Romani figure

29.3.2018 12:36 The City of Brno is the first to name a public location in the Czech Republic after a Romani figure. On 27 March the name of the Hvězdička Park was officially changed to Eugen Horváth Park.  full story

Czech Republic: Conditions for leaving the debt trap may be relaxed

28.3.2018 7:13 The conditions for people in the Czech Republic to leave the debt trap may become more relaxed. The lower house, despite criticism from members of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), has supported the Government's amendments to the bankruptcy law that will make it possible for debtors to enter the debt relief process irrespective of how much they owe.  full story

Czech state is now the official owner of the former pig farm at Lety on the Romani genocide site

27.3.2018 7:08 On 16 March the grounds of the former pig farm at Lety (Písek district) were registered in the cadastral office as having been transferred from the AGPI firm to the Czech state. The firm will receive 80 % of the purchase price of CZK 450 800 000 [EUR 17.7 million] within 30 days.  full story

Czech Republic: Permission sought from Prostějov to install stones marking Holocaust victims

26.3.2018 9:13 The first stones to mark those who disappeared during the Holocaust from the town of Prostějov could soon be installed according to a program to commemorate Holocaust victims that is running in the Czech Republic and many other countries. The stones to mark the disappeared, called Stolpersteine, are paving stones 10 x 10 cm square with information about the victims engraved into a small bronze plaque on their surface.  full story

Czech students walk out of school to defend democracy, protest denial of Romani Holocaust

22.3.2018 16:36 Students from roughly 300 colleges and high schools around the Czech Republic joined a half-hour long warning strike to defend Constitutional and social values at noon on 15 March, with thousands of young people assembling before schools and in protest demonstrations in Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň, České Budějovice, Olomouc, Hradec Králové, and other big cities. In speeches, on banners and through online social networks, the students criticized the approach taken by top politicians towards the Constitution or towards the media, especially Czech President Miloš Zeman and outgoing Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO).  full story

Czech Republic: Apartment building on fire in Romani neighborhood, 20 injured, including children

22.3.2018 9:20 In the Předlice quarter of Ústí nad Labem 20 people are injured after an apartment building caught fire there this morning. Most of those injured are suffering from smoke inhalation. 

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Czech Philharmonic will continue collaboration with Romani musician Ida Kelarová

20.3.2018 16:03 Ida Kelarová, the choir director and jazz singer, tells the Czech News Agency in an interview that the recent recording of the Romani children's choir Čhavorenge is both the high point and just the beginning of the choir's further collaboration with the Czech Philharmonic, which was initiated through their joint summer arts school. "It can be considered that new opportunities will open up with this CD. We may even get invited abroad," she said.  full story

Germany: Neo-Nazi terrorists get multiple-year sentences

12.3.2018 21:04 Members of the extremist right-wing group Freital who committed several bomb attacks against their political opponents and refugees have been sentenced to between four and 10 years in prison by a court in Dresden. Seven men and one woman used fireworks bought in the Czech Republic to prepare the bombs.  full story

Czech Justice Minister now in charge of human rights agenda, but will he join the next Government?

12.3.2018 7:08 The Friday edition of the daily Lidové noviny (LN) reported that outgoing Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) is rumored to have agreed with Czech President Miloš Zeman that Czech Justice Minister Robert Pelikán (ANO), currently entrusted with the human rights agenda, will not be in the next Government. LN reported that he will be replaced by Deputy Interior Minister Petr Mlsna, who is a lawyer.  full story

Czech MPs refuse to approve program of extraordinary session to remove vice-chair accused of denying the Romani Holocaust

10.3.2018 7:24 The chair of the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) party, Czech MP Tomio Okamura, has survived an attempt to dismiss him from his function as vice-chair of the Chamber of Deputies as his fellow legislators decided a second time not to vote on the issue. During two separate votes the lower house failed to adopt the agenda of the extraordinary session convened for 7 March to discuss Okamura's remarks about the concentration camp at Lety.  full story

Czech Republic: Last pigs to leave farm on Romani genocide site 14 March

9.3.2018 21:24 The Czech News Agency reports that Jan Čech, vice-chair of the Agpi board, said today that the last pigs will leave the grounds of the farm at Lety u Písku on 14 March. There are currently 330 pigs left in the facility.  full story