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Czech court sentences neo-Nazi to community service for assault on activist, who has appealed

22 October 2012
4 minute read

A court in the Czech town of Most has handed down a verdict in the matter of an attack that was committed against human rights activist Ondřej Cakl during a neo-Nazi demonstration in November 2008 in Litvínov. The court did not award compensation for damages. The convicted assailant, František Brávek, will have to perform 300 hours of community service. The verdict has not yet taken effect and Cakl has appealed.

In November 2008, after a rally held in Litvínov by the now-defunct Workers’ Party (Dělnická strana), the Autonomous Nationalists (Autonomní nacionalisté – AN) marched through the town with the aim of provoking violence against the Romani community living in a socially excluded locality there, the Janov housing estate. During the march, widespread violence was committed; three years later, this is the first conviction to be handed down with respect to those events. The victim, Ondřej Cakl, and his Tolerance and Civil Society association (Tolerance a občanská společnost – TOS) have been instructed to seek financial compensation through a civil proceedings. The court said that proving the defendant’s share of liability for the damages caused would require further evidence.

At the demonstration in question, Cakl was filming the marchers heading for the Janov housing estate as part of his work for TOS, which monitors the neo-Nazi scene in the Czech Republic. Last January he testified that someone first pushed him to the ground from behind, that several people kicked him, and that someone threw a rock at him. The entire incident is said to have been brief. He did not recognize the individual assailants at the time, as he was primarily doing his best to flee. The attackers destroyed his video camera and tore his clothing.

Cakl immediately appealed this verdict because he was not awarded compensation for the damages he suffered. “The court could have taken into consideration the motivation of hatred that lay behind the attack as a whole. Ondřej Cakl was assaulted because of who he is – an active defender of human rights”, says Klára Kalibová, Cakl’s attorney.

Hate violence of the sort that Cakl has suffered usually significantly influences victims’ lives, the lives of their loved ones, and other persons or communities at risk of attack. This case is no different. The attack was one of the reasons Cakl has moved out of the country.

“If the attack had occurred this year, we would have been able to seek damages for the distress inflicted, but at the time the trial was initiated that wasn’t possible, there was no such option available,” Kalibová told news server Romea.cz.

What is also interesting is that of the 13 people charged in the incident, only František Brávek has been convicted. All the rest have, according to Kalibová, either been acquitted or had their cases classified as misdemeanors.

The judge said the main evidence against the convicted perpetrator was the photographs and video recordings of the incident. which show him kicking Cakl as he is lying on the ground. According to the defense, however, the photos are not reliable because they were taken from behind and the person is wearing a hood. “I do not believe that is me in those photos,” Brávek testified.

Brávek has been convicted twice previously of committing grievous bodily harm and rioting. In the one case he ended up in prison after violating his parole, while in the other case he performed 400 hours of community service.

Cakl’s attorney believes the court should not have categorized the incident as a case of rioting. Representing the absent Cakl before the court, Kalibová said the incident should have been classified as the felony crime of violence against an individual member of a particular group, because Cakl is a civil rights activist with TOS. He was unable to appear in person because he is remaining outside the country after the incident in Janov out of concern for his safety. “This is not the only time he has been attacked, and he has also received threats. He does not feel safe in this country,” Kalibová said.

Cakl, however, is not sure whether Brávek in particular was one of the assailants. “Based only on what happened at the scene of the crime I am not able to say the defendant was one of the assailants. However, on the basis of the photographs and video taken by the journalists present, I am able to identify him,” Cakl previously testified. In his view, however, the main assailant was the one who first attacked him from behind and pushed him to the ground. Police officers have not charged anyone with that offense. “I mainly hope that person will be apprehended,” Cakl said. The first person charged with assaulting Cakl, Martin Loskot, was acquitted one year ago by the court in Most.

The march on 17 November 2008 was attended by about 500 promoters of the ultra-right who did their best to enter the Janov housing estate, which is predominantly inhabited by Romani people, and ended up clashing with police officers. The large-scale street fighting, which took police two hours to bring to an end, caused 14 injuries. Approximately 1 000 officers were deployed to the event.

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