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Czech President's secretary interviewed by neo-Nazi manager

22 October 2012
2 minute read

Ladislav Jakl, secretary to Czech President Klaus, was interviewed for a book entitled “Deset tisíc extremistů” (“Ten Thousand Extremists”) co-authored by Robert Fürych, the manager of the neo-Nazi music group Conflict 88. In the interview, Jakl defends the rights of all bands, including neo-Nazi ones, to perform. News server iDNES.cz reports that Fürych sells the Thor Steinar brand of clothing in the Czech Republic, a favorite among neo-Nazis and proponents of the ultra-right.

Jakl says all bands, including “punks and Nazis”, have the right to freedom of speech. “There is no reason for police to start hanging out with musicians again, monitoring their lyrics to see whether they are dangerous or flawed, it’s almost scandalous,” Jakl says in the book. Fürych’s band performs lyrics in its repertoire such as “Whoever wins becomes the leader and sits on the throne, heil, heil” (“Kdo vyhrává, stává se vůdcem a usedá na trůn, heil, heil.”).

When asked by Czech daily Mf DNES how the interview came about and whether he knew who Robert Fürych was at the time, Jakl did not answer the question. “I don’t know of any such book,” he replied by SMS message.

Jaroslav Smílek, the book’s other co-author, was hurt by Jakl’s statement. “He must be suffering from memory loss. We did the interview at the Castle, where he received us. President Klaus was to have received us for a short time, but that didn’t work out. We authorized the text by e-mail and sent him a copy of the book,” iDNES.cz reports Smílek as saying. Fürych accompanied him to the Castle to interview Jakl.

In addition to Jakl, others interviewed for the book include the singer Aleš Brichta, former Czech MP Eva Dundáčková (ODS), and former police officer Tomáš Čermák, who is best known for assaulting Green Party member Kateřina Jacques.

Robert Fürych’s band performed in Serbia seven years ago at a meeting of the most radical skinheads in the Combat 18 organization (the number 18 in neo-Nazi circles represents the name of Adolf Hitler). The German band Blitzkrieg also played at the concert. Conflict 88 performs lyrics that are clearly neo-Nazi, although extremism expert Ondřej Cakl says the band seems to have recently “run out of gas”, news server iDNES.cz reports.

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