The Czech Police are evidently planning to soon charge Pavel Kamas, the owner of the Guidemedia publishing house, with approving, denying and questioning genocide by recently releasing a book called Adolf Hitler: Speeches (Adolf Hitler: Projevy). Author Lukáš Beer and Guidemedia itself are also evidently going to be prosecuted for the same offense.
State attorney Jan Petrásek, who is involved in the case, said he is expecting police to make their decision soon. Beer and Kamas would face three years in prison if convicted.
"At first only the two individuals were investigated for wrongdoing. However, I returned the case file to the police for further detailed investigation because I am of the opinion that the publishing house itself can also be prosecuted," Petrásek told the Czech News Agency yesterday.
Kamas says the police have blocked the publishing house’s bank accounts with assets totaling CZK 7.9 million. Petrásek explained that if the publishing of the book is ruled illegal by a court, then income from its sale will also be illegal.
Kamas considers the blocking of the accounts to be an effort to liquidate his firm. "We perceive this as an obviously desperate attempt on the part of the state to get rid of our publishing house, with its inconvenient historical titles, indirectly by financially liquidating us, because sooner or later we will win in court, just like Mr Michal Zítko won his case," Kamas said.
In the year 2000, Zítko published a translation of Mein Kampf unaccompanied by any commentary whatsoever. He was initially placed on probation for publishing the book but was eventually acquitted.
Kamas, too, is counting on winning any criminal prosecutions. Even though he claimed his firm had counted on "state repression" in the initial phase after the release of Speeches, he said he was surprised that "in a free country it is possible to preliminarily confiscate all of a book publishers assets and, for an unspecified time, without a decision by an independent court, throw the company into several millions’ worth of debt."
Kamas is currently in Germany. He has not yet received a written communication about the blocking of his accounts.
The Guidemedia publishing house is mentioned in the situational report on extremism issued during the first quarter of this year by the Czech Interior Ministry. According to that report, the commentary in the book about Hitler’s speeches defends Nazism both directly and indirectly.
Kamas disagrees, saying the commentary merely communicates clear historical data to readers. The 650-page publication was issued by Kamas through the brand name "guidemedia etc."
The print run for the first edition was 10 000 and the book is available only online. According to the promotional material on the book’s website, readers of the book will learn that Hitler allegedly spoke of the Czech people with recognition and respect, that he believed everyone had the equal right to life, that he strove for peace, desired a sincere friendship with England, and had nothing against the Russians.
