Prague Workers’ Party leader and head of women’s neo-Nazi group in custody

Romea.cz has learned that Patrik Vondrák, a representative of the neo-Nazi National Resistance organization who headed the Prague candidate list for the Workers’ Party, has been arrested and remains in custody. Michaela Dupová, head of the Czech neo-Nazi organization Resistance Women Unity (RWU), is also in custody.

Neo-Nazi web pages linked to the Workers’ Party are reporting that Vondrák has been taken into custody and charged with “supporting and promoting National Resistance”. Dupová was a regular speaker on behalf of RWU at demonstrations and ran on the Workers’ Party candidate list in the Central Bohemian regional elections.

The Antifa.cz web server published this profile of Dupová prior to the regional elections in 2008: “She is a committed neo-Nazi from the Resistance Women Unity organization who collaborates with National Resistance. Michaela Dupová is one of the main people in the group, which promotes the women’s view of modern Nazism, yet another interesting part of the mosaic that is the contemporary Czech ‘brown-shirt’ scene. What RWU does is give speeches at demonstrations, publish articles on their web page, and send care packages to imprisoned neo-Nazis, whom they refer to as Prisoners of War. RWU’s definition of ‘political’ imprisonment also includes neo-Nazis who have been sentenced for ‘non-ideological activity’ such as armed robbery, as in the case of Marek Henzl, a violent criminal from Plzeň. Dupová is intimately linked to Patrik Vondrák, a leading National Resistance figure in Prague.”

Patrik Vondrák and Michaela Dupová were arrested during the Wednesday raid against promoters of neo-Nazism, during which 24 people were arrested. Yesterday Robert Šlachta, head of the Organized Crime Detection Unit (ÚOOZ), told ČTK that police suspect those arrested of the crime of supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms.

On Wednesday the Workers’ Party chair told ČTK that police also arrested Matyáš Sombati, vice-chair of Workers’ Youth and deputy editor of the Workers’ News (Dělnické listy), confiscating a computer which contains a database of Workers’ Youth members and other personal effects of his. Sombati was released that same day.

Today police will release more detailed information on the Wednesday raid. ROMEA TV will broadcast coverage of the press conference.