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Sedláček gets suspended sentence for racist statements at National Party event

22 October 2012
7 minute read

Pavel Sedláček has received a one-year prison sentence, suspended for a trial period of three years, due to racist statements he made in October 2008 at a gathering of the nationalist National Party (Národní strana – NS) in Prague. The District Court for Prague 1 found him guilty of the crimes of defaming a nation, ethnic group, race or belief, inciting hatred toward a group of persons and/or suppressing their rights and freedoms. Presiding Judge Libor Vávra reported the verdict to the Czech Press Agency today. The court order took effect on 26 February.

Sedláček made the statements on 28 October 2008 on Wenceslas Square in Prague. City officials responded to them by dispersing the gathering. In their view, the event had deviated from its announced purpose, which was to celebrate the creation of Czechoslovakia. Officials called the remarks racist and xenophobic. “The gathering began to head in the direction of a call to incite hatred and intolerance towards a particular group,” official Pavel Štefaňák told journalists at the time.

Štefaňák said one of the main reasons officials dispersed the event prior to its announced ending time was the statement that “this country is not for colored people.” “There is no room either on our flag or on our territory for another color,” Sedláček was quoted as saying. His speech also included references to “yellow drug dens” and “niggers” who “occupy” no small part of Wenceslas Square, where they “deal in drugs and white women”.

Zdeněk Zbořil, a political scientist and expert on extremism who monitored the gathering, said Sedláček’s statements as illegal at the time, according to the Prague Police. He then wrote an evaluation in which he characterized the speech as racist and xenophobic.

Zbořil said Sedláček also referred during his speech to 14 words from an English-language sentence famous in extremist circles: “We must protect the existence of our people and the future of white children.” The quote is from US right-wing extremist David Lane, who was sentenced in the USA to 190 years in prison for his crimes in 1985. “I have the honor here of being the first person to stand up and sacrifice everything for the future of our people and the safety and happiness of our white children,” Sedláček said in his speech. In the past this same quote from Lane has turned up, for example, on the website of the neo-Nazi National Resistance organization.

Police initially shelved the Sedláček case, claiming no crime had been committed, but the state attorney instructed them to re-investigate. An order to charge Sedláček was subsequently issued.

Last November, the District Court for Prague 4 also issued a court order for suspended sentences to representatives of the National Party who allegedly were the authors of the content in the party’s television advertisement during the European Parliamentary campaign. The video clip featured the phrase “the Final Solution to the Gypsy Question” and alternated footage of Romani children and families with slogans such as “Stop Black Racism”, “No Favoritism for Gypsies”, and “We Don’t Want Black Racists Among Us”.

Another prosecution related to the National Party concerns a publication entitled The Final Solution to the Gypsy Question (Konečné řešení otázky cikánské), which in addition to other ideas promotes the notion that the Roma should be deported to India. The author of the publication, evidently Jiří Gaudin, once a member of the National Party’s leadership structure, was charged by South Bohemian detectives last year.

The National Party currently has no members seated in the Czech Parliament. It has been active on the Czech political scene since 2002. The party has long lobbied against the European Union and against immigrants. Its website has been offline for some time now, and the party, which has been characterized as “virtual”, has practically fallen apart. Last October party chair Petra Edelmannová resigned, and by 1 December all other members of the party leadership council had resigned as well. Czech Interior Ministry spokesperson Vladimír Řepka told the Czech Press Agency today that the ministry has no information as to whether the party has ceased its activity.

Pavel Sedláček has received a one-year prison sentence, suspended for a trial period of three years, due to racist statements he made in October 2008 at a gathering of the nationalist National Party (Národní strana – NS) in Prague. The District Court for Prague 1 found him guilty of the crimes of defaming a nation, ethnic group, race or belief, inciting hatred toward a group of persons and/or suppressing their rights and freedoms. Presiding Judge Libor Vávra reported the verdict to the Czech Press Agency today. The court order took effect on 26 February.

Sedláček made the statements on 28 October 2008 on Wenceslas Square in Prague. City officials responded to them by dispersing the gathering. In their view, the event had deviated from its announced purpose, which was to celebrate the creation of Czechoslovakia. Officials called the remarks racist and xenophobic. “The gathering began to head in the direction of a call to incite hatred and intolerance towards a particular group,” official Pavel Štefaňák told journalists at the time.

Štefaňák said one of the main reasons officials dispersed the event prior to its announced ending time was the statement that “this country is not for colored people.” “There is no room either on our flag or on our territory for another color,” Sedláček was quoted as saying. His speech also included references to “yellow drug dens” and “niggers” who “occupy” no small part of Wenceslas Square, where they “deal in drugs and white women”.

Zdeněk Zbořil, a political scientist and expert on extremism who monitored the gathering, said Sedláček’s statements as illegal at the time, according to the Prague Police. He then wrote an evaluation in which he characterized the speech as racist and xenophobic.

Zbořil said Sedláček also referred during his speech to 14 words from an English-language sentence famous in extremist circles: “We must protect the existence of our people and the future of white children.” The quote is from US right-wing extremist David Lane, who was sentenced in the USA to 190 years in prison for his crimes in 1985. “I have the honor here of being the first person to stand up and sacrifice everything for the future of our people and the safety and happiness of our white children,” Sedláček said in his speech. In the past this same quote from Lane has turned up, for example, on the website of the neo-Nazi National Resistance organization.

Police initially shelved the Sedláček case, claiming no crime had been committed, but the state attorney instructed them to re-investigate. An order to charge Sedláček was subsequently issued.

Last November, the District Court for Prague 4 also issued a court order for suspended sentences to representatives of the National Party who allegedly were the authors of the content in the party’s television advertisement during the European Parliamentary campaign. The video clip featured the phrase “the Final Solution to the Gypsy Question” and alternated footage of Romani children and families with slogans such as “Stop Black Racism”, “No Favoritism for Gypsies”, and “We Don’t Want Black Racists Among Us”.

Another prosecution related to the National Party concerns a publication entitled The Final Solution to the Gypsy Question (Konečné řešení otázky cikánské), which in addition to other ideas promotes the notion that the Roma should be deported to India. The author of the publication, evidently Jiří Gaudin, once a member of the National Party’s leadership structure, was charged by South Bohemian detectives last year.

The National Party currently has no members seated in the Czech Parliament. It has been active on the Czech political scene since 2002. The party has long lobbied against the European Union and against immigrants. Its website has been offline for some time now, and the party, which has been characterized as “virtual”, has practically fallen apart. Last October party chair Petra Edelmannová resigned, and by 1 December all other members of the party leadership council had resigned as well. Czech Interior Ministry spokesperson Vladimír Řepka told the Czech Press Agency today that the ministry has no information as to whether the party has ceased its activity.

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