Student charges Czech Senator Lebeda with defamation

Robert Tonelli, a student at Metropolitan University (Metropolitní univerzity) in Prague, filed criminal charges on 25 June against Czech Senator Pavel Lebeda (Czech Social Democrats - ČSSD) over an interview published that same day by news server Parlamentnilisty.cz in which Lebeda claims that a not insignificant part of the Romani population is characterized by "loitering, a parasitic way of life that abuses welfare, rent defaulting, an inability to keep a job, criminality, promiscuity, incestual sexual practices in their community, and a failure to uphold any basic norms or rules of civic life and coexistence." Tonelli is convinced that "the senator's statements violate the Constitution's fundamental rights and freedoms" and that Lebeda "has committed the crime of defamation of a race and nation by making these statements."

In the interview for Parlamentnílisty.cz, Lebeda uses expressive terms such as "gypsy hordes", "pseudo-humanists", "stinking showbiz stars", etc. To support his claims, he makes frequent use of citing his own isolated, personal experiences, as well as recounting the reported experiences of others. Responding (not very ingeniously) to the interviewer's leading questions, he also discusses the history and etymology of the term "gypsy", gives us his expert opinion on Romani crime, and reports on the allegedly sophisticated combinatory analysis used by Romani people in the Czech Republic to access above-average incomes through welfare.