Czech Republic: Charges filed against former senator for inciting hatred against Roma

Criminal charges have been filed against Petr Pakosta, a former senator for the Civic Democrats (ODS) who is now an independent, over statements he has made about Romani people. The specific comments concered are the following, which were posted to his publicly accessible Facebook profile along with an article about a recent incident of assault allegedly perpetrated by Romani people against a married couple in the town of Duchcov:

"The aggression of our discriminated fellow citizens has long exceeded any conceivable limits. What should we do? Rub and rub until they are completely rubbed out…."

Martin Marek of Plzeň, who filed the charges, wrote that Petr Pakosta "has committed the felony offense of inciting hatred against a group of people… The article to which Pakosta appended the commentary cited discusses an incident of assault which the media attribute to ethnic Roma. Pakosta’s commentary, therefore, unequivocally points to this ethnic group… The language of the commentary… unequivocally calls for violence towards this ethnic group. It can very easily be deduced that this commentary cannot be considered a ‘stupid joke’…."

The administrators of Facebook erased Pakosta’s commentary after receiving many complaints about it. The former senator responded to that in the following words:

"I’ve just finished my encounters with a gang of individuals who know what is best for us all and with censorship on Facebook. It’s been an interesting experience. Some repeatedly admonished me for being a racist and calling for genocide, others told me they would turn me in to Facebook. Then Comrade Facebook erased my status update. I hope they will soon erase my whole profile, then I can make more meaningful use of my time." 

Pakosta has become the subject of various artistic endeavors since the scandal broke. A picture of Hitler with Pakosta’s quote coming out of his mouth in a cartoon speech bubble is making the rounds of Czech-language social networking sites.