Czech court says police must further investigate ultra-right activist's hate speech about Muslims

The Regional Court in České Budějovice has returned the case against ultra-right activist Martin Konvička, who is suspected of inciting hatred against the religion of Islam, back to the public prosecutor. The case was initially returned to the prosecutor by the first-instance court there.

The prosecutor appealed that first-instance decision. Now the Regional Court has rejected the complaint also, so police will have to continue their investigation of the case, according to State Prosecutor Josef Richter, who is supervising the prosecution.

Konvička, who is running for the Czech Senate in the Tábor district for the “Alternative for Czech Republic 2017” group, is charged with inciting hatred against a particular group and advocating the restriction of the rights and freedoms of its members and faces up to three years in prison for that offense if convicted. The indictment concerns several specific remarks Konvička posted online.

One of those remarks was the following:  “If we go into politics, we will win the elections, and we will grind the bones and muscles of you Muslims into flour.” Another was:  “There will be concentration camps for the Muslims, fortunately – not unfortunately. They asked for it.”

The first-instance court returned the case to Richter in April with the finding that there was not enough evidence for proceeding with the prosecution. The criminal report against Konvička was filed last year by State Prosecutor Věra Nováková of Jablonec after she learned about Konvička’s Facebook posts from her own friends.