Man suspected of murder in Rakovník is not a Rom, victim and alleged murderer are related

Police say disinformation is being spread about the death of a 27-year-old man who died as the result of stab wounds over the weekend in Rakovník. According to the website of the extremist association Autonomní nacionalisté (Autonomous Nationalists) one of their supporters was murdered, allegedly by a Rom. René Černý, spokesperson for the Rakovnik police force, as well as the father of the youth suspected of committing the crime, both say that information is incorrect. Černý told ČTK: "I can refute the assertion that the perpetrator was of Roma nationality."

"Someone is spreading this nonsense. This was a fight at a disco that ended up this way," the spokesperson added. The father of the suspected 21-year-old perpetrator told ČTK he had to request police protection. "My son is not a Roma as is being reported on the news. Roma who live in Rakovník and have nothing to do with this are now being dragged into it."

Neo-Nazis held a "march of mourning" in response to the incident in the evening in Rakovník.

"They have evidently latched on to this because someone started to spread this disinformation around town in a very unfortunate way, and this is the result," said Černý.

According to the the web server Blesk.cz the alleged murderer and his victim, Jan Stričko, are related. "We have known each other a long time. Honza was the brother-in-law of Michal’s cousin. We are completely devastated. No one will ever be able to erase the mark of murder from our family. It is not even worth commenting on the tragedy of the loss of a young human life," Blesk.cz reports the brother of the attacker, Bohumil Navrátil (27), as saying.

An eyewitness who identified himself as a neo-Nazi on the web server Deník.cz said the murder had no racist subtext.

Disinformation began to spread on neo-Nazi web servers and in discussion fora on Saturday.

The server Tn.cz reported the incident was a fight between two friends. Pavel Truxa, spokesperson for the Central Bohemian police, explained the incident on the weekend as follows: "The men were arguing and physically attacked one another. The police are currently interrogating witnesses." The victim’s sister confirmed to Denik.cz that perpetrator and victim knew one another: ""Those two have known each other for years. I don’t understand why he did it," the devastated sister is reported to have said.

The alleged perpetrator is in custody and faces up to 15 years in prison.