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Czech municipality slaps illegally high fines on worshipers over outdoor services

22 October 2012
3 minute read

The misdemeanor commission of the municipality of Krupka has fined organizers, a priest, and several worshipers who participated in an outdoor ecumenical service organized in Krupka on 9 April 2011 by the “We Don’t Want Neo-Nazis in Ústí” Initiative (V Ústí (neo)nacisty nechceme). The commission made its decision without the defendants present through a collections proceeding and fined a total of six people CZK 5 000 each. According to Section 13 of the law on misdemeanors, however, fines levied through collections proceedings may not exceed CZK 4 000.

“We are convinced we committed no misdemeanor and we are resisting this order. We may not even have to go that far because in all probability this order is invalid because of the amount of the fine,” commented Miroslav Brož, spokesperson for the Initiative. “We have offered all the alleged perpetrators free legal aid,” he added.

The services on Saturday 9 April in Krupka were performed jointly by Father Šťastný of the Greek Catholic Church and Brother Pavel Šindler of the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren (Českobratrská církev evangelická). They were dispersed by Czech Police using truncheons, firecrackers and armored police vehicles because they were allegedly preventing a Nazi march from entering a housing estate where many Romani people live.

The misdemeanor commission ruled that a total of six persons had committed misdemeanors by, among other things, “…preventing [the Nazi march] from passing through Karel Čapek street, facilitating religious services there and, as a result of disobeying orders from the Czech Police, having to be removed from the scene by the forces of order of the Czech Police.”

“In Krupka none of those attending services committed any such misdemeanor. They were simply engaging in their basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution, namely, the right to religious expression,” claims Radek Horváth, who attended the services. “The fact that Krupka is sentencing the worshipers, including the local priest, in absentia to illegally high fines is scandalous, in my opinion,” he said.

This is probably the first case in the history of the independent Czech Republic in which a fine has been levied for holding religious services. “Our Initiative has filed a constitutional complaint in the matter of the police intervention against the religious services. We would very much like the Constitutional Court to express its opinion and we are deeply convinced that it is the right and perhaps even the obligation of every person to protest against Nazi marches. The fact that the police intervened using brute force against a peaceful religious service as it was ongoing was such a horrible experience that I still can’t believe it,” said Romana Vlčková, who also attended the services.

The “We Don’t Want Neo-Nazis in Ústí” Initiative has taken a number of steps in relation to the dispersal by the Czech Police of the ecumenical services: Filing a constitutional complaint, attempting to have questions about the incident raised when the Czech Interior Minister addressed the lower house, filing a motion with the Interior Minister’s Inspectorate, and writing an Open Letter to the Interior Minister. Video footage of the religious services in Krupka can be seen on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/user/IniciativaVUNN#p/u

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