Czech court said to punish promotion of dissolved Workers' Party

The Most District Court is said to have sentenced three promoters of the Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS) to community service for displaying a flag with the logo of the banned Workers' Party (Dělnická Strana -DS) last October in Litvínov and Most. The DSSS reported the outcome of the trial on its web page. All of the defendants say they have appealed and are awaiting another hearing, but court spokesperson Bohumila Huňáčková was able to confirm whether the sentencing actually took place today.

The party's website says the DSSS promoters were sentenced to punishments of between 100 and 200 hours of community service. They allegedly promoted a movement which was demonstrably intended to suppress human rights and freedoms and to espouse class, ethnic, national, racial or religious hatred or hatred against a particular group.

The DSSS is the successor to the Workers' Party, which was dissolved by the Czech Supreme Administrative Court last year after it found chauvinistic and xenophobic elements, a connection to national socialism (the ideology associated with Adolf Hitler), and a racist subtext to the party's ideas, program, and symbols. The court said the party incited violence and was attempting a radical transformation of the democratic order. The verdict also said the party artificially created the sense that foreigners and immigrants pose a threat.