ČTK

Czech court rules activists did not enrich themselves by using abandoned building, state may go to Supreme Court

22.6.2018 10:32 The Autonomous Social Center "Klinika" and its representative, Tereza Virtová, do not have to pay the state CZK 360 000 [EUR 14 000] for using real estate in Prague 3 during 2016 for several months without authorization. On 20 June the appeals venue, the Prague Municipal Court, upheld the previous verdict from the first-instance District Court, which rejected a lawsuit filed by the state and found that no "unjust enrichment" had occurred.  full story

Slovak Parliament condemns growing displays of extremism

21.6.2018 20:01 The Slovak Parliament approved a resolution yesterday expressing concerns over the growing displays of extremism, hatred and intolerance in Slovakia. The
legislature has done so in response to the fatal May attack on a Filipino man in the center of Bratislava who succumbed to his injuries in hospital.  full story

Slovak court convicts Romani victims of police raid for making allegedly false accusations of brutality

21.6.2018 9:49 Five years ago a controversial police raid was conducted in a Romani locality of eastern Slovakia. Six Romani people were subsequently indicted for allegedly giving false testimony about the raid.  full story

Czech PM, in speech about EU, says migration problems have caused a rise in extremist politics

21.6.2018 6:44 Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) has reiterated his belief that he considers the biggest problem facing the EU today to be that of illegal migration. In a speech opening a three-day international conference on 19 June called the "Prague European Summit", the PM said migration problems have caused the rise of extremist politics and created disputes among states.  full story

Italian Interior Minister insists on "census" of Roma despite criticism

20.6.2018 12:13 Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, despite harsh criticism of his announcement Monday that he is planning to conduct a census of Romani people and to deport those without documents, is insisting on his plans. Yesterday he tweeted his defiance of the criticism.  full story

Germany: Trial begins of Syrian citizen who assaulted man wearing yarmulke

20.6.2018 10:50 Accompanied by great media interest, the trial began yesterday in Berlin of a 19-year-old Syrian who assaulted two youths wearing yarmulkes in the Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood in April. The accused has admitted committing the crime, expressed regret for it, and assured the court that he does not hate Jewish people.  full story

Italian Interior Minister plans to deport Romani people, opposition calls the plan repugnant

19.6.2018 17:39 Developing an "inventory" of Romani people and deporting those who do not have proper documentation is a plan being developed by Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. Last week he also advocated for taking a hardline approach against boats in the Mediterranean Sea that rescued several hundred migrants.  full story

Czech President verbally assails residential hotel evictees, supports city's move to abolish housing benefits entirely

19.6.2018 15:40 Czech President Miloš Zeman perceives declaring municipal territories "housing benefit-free zones" to be part of combating poverty. He would agree with declaring all of the City of Ústí nad Labem such a zone.  full story

Czech Labor and Social Affairs Minister says nobody has to live on the street after residential hotels close

19.6.2018 12:38 The City of Ústí nad Labem is doing its best to gradually arrange housing for the people from two residential hotels that are closing at the end of June. According to City Hall, they have managed to find replacement housing for more than half of the people affected.  full story

Czech capital sees commemoration of parachutists who assassinated Nazi leader in 1942

19.6.2018 10:37 Hundreds of people including politicians commemorated the parachutists who carried out a successful attack in 1942 against the Nazi Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich by visiting the Cathedral of St. Cyril and Methodius in Resslova Street in Prague yesterday morning. At noon, representatives of the Prague 2 local authority unveiled memorial cobblestones to the fallen parachutists embedded in the sidewalk across from the cathedral where they heroically fought and died.  full story

Hungary: Traffickers in human beings sentenced to 25 years for 71 deaths, prosecutor wants life sentences

18.6.2018 8:53 A court in Kecskemét, Hungary has sentenced the four main defendants in the trial of the death by suffocation of 71 migrants in a refrigerator truck three years ago to 25 years in prison. The prosecution sought life sentences for them.

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Experts from around the globe speak in Czech capital about affordable housing

17.6.2018 12:01 Beginning on 14 June, experts from all over the world have been discussing affordable housing and the future of cities in the Czech capital, Prague. The issue is the main topic of this year's seventh annual international reSITE conference.  full story

Czech court acquits police officer, says use of force against Romani harvester was legal, state to appeal

17.6.2018 11:13

The use by police of a collapsible truncheon against a harvester of legally-grown technical hemp from a field in the Česká Lípa district was not criminal, according to a court in Česká Lípa that acquitted the officer on 14 June. The defendant had faced up to five years in prison for abusing his powers.

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Czech Social Democrats would withdraw controversial plan to further restrict housing benefits

17.6.2018 10:13 If the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) is put in charge of the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry as part of the next Government, then it will withdraw a controversial planned bill to further restrict housing benefits. Czech MP Jan Chvojka (ČSSD) announced that plan during the 14 June debate in the lower house.  full story

Czech village wants to stop housing benefits altogether, plans to buy up apartment buildings

17.6.2018 9:27 The village of Trmice in the Ústecký Region of the Czech Republic is defending itself against a potential influx of impoverished, problematic residents. Its local council has requested an expansion to its "measures of a general nature", on the basis of which new arrivals to the village will not be awarded housing benefits anywhere on its territory.  full story

Czech Social Democrats revoke membership of one "trafficker in poverty" while ignoring another

17.6.2018 8:35 The Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) has revoked the membership of Petr Trabalka, who owns a problematic building inhabited by impoverished tenants in the town of Děčín. Party member Marcel Běhounek, an assembly member for the Severní Terasa Municipal Department of Ústí nad Labem, is also allegedly a slumlord in that same part of the country - but has not been asked to give up his party membership.  full story

Russia: The World Cup begins with concerns about homophobia, racism, and violence

16.6.2018 17:13 The World Cup could mean many bans and restrictions for Russian people themselves which the authorities hope will increase security for the more than one million football fans from all over the world coming to Moscow. Some media outlets and foreign authorities are warning visitors against possible World Cup pitfalls.  full story

UK: Trial of neo-Nazi who planned to murder MP and policewoman begins in London

16.6.2018 16:18

Jack Renshaw, a 23-year-old British citizen, confessed on 12 June to planning to murder a Labour MP using a machete. Another five men are accused along with him of being members of the banned neo-Nazi organization National Action.

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Czech Interior Ministry: SPD movement has assumed the agenda of the extreme right

16.6.2018 10:31 In the Czech Republic, extremist groups on the right as traditionally organized have stopped being relevant politically. The "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) movement has worked with their agenda most effectively, but that group is categorized by the Czech Interior Ministry as not extremist, but as a movement that
engages in xenophobic speech.  full story

Romani entrepreneurs push for unemployed Roma, not foreigners, to be hired for Czech bark beetle eradication

16.6.2018 8:46 The Association of Romani Entrepreneurs and Guilds (Asociace romských podnikatelů a spolků) has offered to provide 1 000 laborers who have long been registered with the Czech Labor Office for work in forests to combat bark beetle, sending an open letter making the offer to Czech Environment Minister Richard Brabec (ANO) and Czech Agriculture Minister Jiří Milek (for ANO). Czech firms are complaining that they do not have enough laborers for forestry work and that they are understaffed by thousands.  full story