South Bohemian police investigate nine youths for allegedly giving the Nazi salute

South Bohemian police are investigating nine youths from Strakonice and Písek who allegedly gave the Nazi salute in public and shouted racist slogans. They face up to five years in prison, according to the South Bohemian edition of Czech daily Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD).

Police suspect the youths of supporting and promoting fascism since January 2008. According to the paper, the men, who range in age from 19 – 33, endorse the neo-Nazis and are alleged to have had problems due to their behavior before. Some of them have even been investigated and sentenced previously for the crime of promoting a movement suppressing human rights and freedoms. One of the youths allegedly shouted Nazi slogans at the train station in Strakonice half a year ago. He later apologized, saying he was drunk and unaware of what he was doing. "We are not brutes who give the Nazi salute in public. We like history and the Second World War and everything that goes along with it," one of those charged explained to MfD.

"Detectives are now investigating them because they have given the Nazi salute in restaurants. They also shouted racist slogans and wore clothing with Nazi slogans on it," said Jaromíra Nováková, spokesperson for the Strakonice police.

According to the paper, some of the youths have swastikas and other Nazi symbols tattooed on their bodies. All of the men have been released on their own recognizance.

At the start of 2009, a court in České Budějovice sent three young neo-Nazis behind bars, one of whom stabbed another youth in the neck last May in Strakonice after he objected to their giving the Nazi salute and shouting "Sieg Heil" and "Jews to the gas".