Trial of Russian neo-Nazi band member to continue in November

The trial of Denis Gerasimov, 30, a member of the Russian neo-Nazi band Kolovrat who has been prosecuted in the Czech Republic for promoting Nazism and neo-Nazism, will be re-opened in November, the Prague 6 District Court decided today.

The reason for the adjourning of the hearing is the absence of judge Katerina Kohoutkova till the end of October and the appointment of a new defence council for Gerasimov.

In the past, the court twice acquitted Gerasimov of the charges, but the Prague City Court appeals senate twice returned the case for new proceedings.

After the second acquittal verdict in May 2005, Gerasimov was released from custody and he has allegedly left for Russia.
Since the court failed to contact him to hand him a subpoena he is being prosecuted as fugitive.

The Kolovrat band performed at a skinhead gathering in Chroustovice, east Bohemia, in January 2004.

On Gerasimov’s departure from Prague’s airport, the police found propaganda materials on him that were reportedly related to the neo-Nazi movement.

Gerasimov dismissed the accusation that he would incline to racism or Nazism.

The state attorney also charged Gerasimov with having performed songs with racially-intolerant lyrics at a Kolovrat concert in a restaurant in Kutna Hora, central Bohemia, in the summer of 2003.

Kolovrat was established as the first Russian skinhead band in Moscow in 1994. On its Internet site, it admits that skinheads and soccer fans rank among its most loyal fans.

Gerasimov has written the lyrics of most of Kolovrat’s songs.