Czech NGO files complaint against paper over racist article

The Prostějovský Večerník ("Prostějov Evening News")
daily paper has once again had a complaint filed against it over a racist
article. As with the previous case, the complaint was filed by the NESEHNUTÍ
nongovernmental organization, which believes that the article headlined
"GYPSY HYENAS rob woman of crutches!" violates the law.

The article, which was published on the front page of
the newspaper on Monday, 27 January, is significantly stereotyping and its
expressive headline defames the entire ethnic group of Roma. "The article
clearly defames an ethnic group, specifically, the Roma. This particularly
concerns the phrase ‘GYPSY HYENAS’ used in the headline. The article
associates ethnicity with theft and intentionally tries to create the
impression that the Roma ethnic group as a whole is a group of unprincipled,
violent thugs, i.e., that ‘gypsies’ are ‘hyenas’," commented Irena Košíčková
of NESEHNUTÍ.

"This is the second time that NESEHNUTÍ has filed a
complaint about Prostějovský Večerník. The authors of the article must be
held accountable for their escalating, ongoing racist statements," Košíčková
said.

"The phrase ‘gypsy hyenas’ is strikingly reminiscent of
the statements of some Nazi propagandists in Germany prior to the Second
World War," says Martin Hyťha of NESEHNUTÍ. "For example, the German anti-Semitic
author Ernst Hiemer compared Jews to various unpopular animals during the
1930s and 1940s – and also wrote about ‘Jewish hyenas’, among other things.
There should be no need to remind everyone of the results of such
propaganda."

The NGO’s previous complaint against the newspaper was
filed last September over the publication of

an article entitled "Gypsy attacks multiply", but was closed by the
Police of the Czech Republic and never resulted in any punishment of those
responsible. "A previous court decision does exist in whic the perpetrators
were found guilty of a felony for making very similar statements. We do not
want the Prostějovský Večerník to continue to spread hatred in society this
way," Radka Vejrychová of NESEHNUTÍ said.