Workers' Youth Vice-Chair charged with ideological affiliation to Nazism

Police are prosecuting a 21-year-old woman from the Teplice district for a speech she made last 17 November at an event held in Litvínov by the Workers’ Social Justice Party (Dělnická strany sociální spravedlnosti – DSSS). According to the party’s website, charges have been filed against Lucie Šlégrová, Vice-Chair of Workers’ Youth (Dělnická mládež – DM), the youth organization of the banned Workers’ Party (Dělnická strana – DS). Police spokesperson Ludmila Světláková informed the Czech Press Agency today that Šlégrová gave a speech in which she publicly expressed a positive relationship toward a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms, expressed her affiliation to the ideology of Nazi Germany, and promoted German National Socialism.

Šlégrová has not been taken into custody. If convicted, she faces up to three years in prison. According to police, she labeled the National Socialist ideology the only possible one to hold and said it would be a way to combat the current situation in the government.

Police spokesperson Světláková said police recorded the speech and asked political science experts to evaluate it. According to the DSSS webiste, Šlégrová has also been charged with holding a flag with the logo of the banned Workers’ Party on it during a DSSS election rally in the town of Most.

Last November, the DSSS was commemorating the events of two years ago in Litvínov, when promoters of the extreme right attempted to carry out a pogrom against Roma people living at the Janov housing estate and clashed with police. Law enforcement prevented them from marching very far into the housing estate, where a large Roma community lives.