Tomio Okamura

Commentary: Actual risk now exists that deniers of the Holocaust of the Roma could join the Czech Government

14.11.2018 15:24  full story

Tomáš Ščuka: We may disagree with him, but Romani candidate for extremist party is entitled to his opinions

7.9.2018 7:09 On 5 and 6 October we will be voting in the local elections to the councils of cities and municipalities as well as to the Senate, the upper chamber of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. I have been unable to avoid noticing the sharp reactions of some Romani people to the young Romani man who has decided to run as a candidate for the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" movement of Tomio Okamura (SPD) in Karviná.  full story

Czech tabloid will not be inviting ultra-right party representatives to its online debates

15.8.2018 6:42 The daily Blesk tabloid has decided not to invite any politicians from the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) party to its candidate debates prior to the autumn elections. After the 2017 elections, reporters from the publication were not given access to the party's events, so the move is one of retaliation.  full story

Czech Interior Minister says MP is lying about foreign nationals voting

17.7.2018 13:17 Czech MP Tomio Okamura (SPD), the vice-chair of the lower house and chair of the populist, xenophobic SPD party, announced on his official Facebook profile on Sunday that "Foreigners without Czech citizenship will newly be able to vote in the Czech Republic and run for office!" He also accused the new Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamáček of having instituted the measures immediately upon taking office.  full story

Czech ultraconservative alleges that members of minorities defend their rights at the expense of "heterosexual men who are white"

30.6.2018 12:16 Speaking in the lower house on 27 June, the chair of the xenophobic "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) party, Tomio Okamura, and the ultraconservative Václav Klaus, Jr (Civic Democratic Party - ODS) criticized the activity of the Czech Public Defender of Rights, Anna Šabatová. Okamura accused her of just defending the rights of minorities to the detriment of "white heterosexual men", and Klaus indirectly called her an extreme leftist.  full story

Czech President's staff criticize inclusion of "Freedom and Direct Democracy" party in extremism report

19.6.2018 9:25 Czech President Zeman's staff are criticizing the inclusion of the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) party of Tomio Okamura among the actors mentioned in the Report on Extremism for 2017 produced by the Department of Crime Prevention and Security Policy at the Czech Interior Ministry. According to the Office of the President, the SPD should not be mentioned by the report.  full story

Czech Govt has yet to release report stating that the SPD party poses more of a threat than extremists do

4.6.2018 11:59 The next annual report from the Czech Interior Ministry about extremism is anticipated to criticize the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) movement, which is seated in Parliament. The movement chooses to emphasize subjects similar to those focused on by right-wing extremists and holds opinions similar to theirs as well.  full story

Czech politician not to be compensated over nickname, courts say reasonable use of it is allowed

16.5.2018 19:23 Czech MP Tomio Okamura ("Freedom and Direct Democracy" - SPD), a vice-chair of the Czech lower house, has failed with his legal appeal over a dispute caused by the use of a nickname for him, "Pitomio" [loose translation - "Tomidiot"] by the Czech weekly magazine Reflex. Okamura appealed a previous court ruling that instructed the magazine to apologize to the politician for using the nickname in two articles in 2013 but did not award him compensation, and the judiciary has at a more general level admitted that it is possible to use the "Pitomio" nickname as part of justified criticism of the public figure.  full story

Czech MPs refuse to approve program of extraordinary session to remove vice-chair accused of denying the Romani Holocaust

10.3.2018 7:24 The chair of the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) party, Czech MP Tomio Okamura, has survived an attempt to dismiss him from his function as vice-chair of the Chamber of Deputies as his fellow legislators decided a second time not to vote on the issue. During two separate votes the lower house failed to adopt the agenda of the extraordinary session convened for 7 March to discuss Okamura's remarks about the concentration camp at Lety.  full story

Czech lower house to hold extraordinary session on proposal to dismiss vice-chair for doubting Holocaust of Roma

5.3.2018 20:23 Czech MPs will convene on Wednesday for an extraordinary session on a proposal to dismiss Czech MP Tomio Okamura ("Freedom and Direct Democracy" - SPD) from his post as vice-chair of the Chamber of Deputies. Czech MP Jan Bartošek, head of the Christian Democratic faction in the lower house, announced the news at a press conference on Friday.  full story

Former Czech Human Rights Minister says the entire country should campaign against denial of Romani genocide

11.2.2018 7:17 On Wednesday, 7 February, former Czech Human Rights Minister Michael Kocáb commented at a press conference announcing the results of the fundraising drive called "THEY WANT TO GAS THEM, WE WANT TO SEND THEM TO SCHOOL!" about the recent remarks made the chair of the SPD party, who is also the vice-chair of the Chamber of Deputies. He highlighted the responses of politicians who have objected to Czech MP Okamura's remarks, which in his view have crossed a certain line.  full story

videoČeněk Růžička reports crime to Czech State Prosecutor, accuses lower house vice-chair of doubting the Romani genocide

8.2.2018 18:37 The chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (VPORH), Čeněk Růžička, visited the state prosecutor today on behalf of the victims and survivors of the concentration camp at Lety u Písku and their relatives to accuse the vice-chair of the Chamber of Deputies, Tomio Okamura, and Czech MP Miloslav Rozner (both SPD), of breaking the law on Holocaust denial. Růžička is not hopeful that the police will be able to press charges, but said he had no choice but to bring the accusation.  full story

Czech citizens file crime report over MP's remarks denying the suffering of Romani genocide victims

3.2.2018 10:52 Czech MP Tomio Okamura is being reported to the authorities on suspicion of criminal activity because of remarks he made denying the suffering of the Romani victims of the Holocaust at the Lety u Písku concentration camp. An open letter sent to news server Romea.cz by its signatories has announced that fact.  full story

Czech futsal club "takes a knee" against the xenophobic remarks of the SPD chair and the President

27.12.2017 17:52 The Dynamo Černý Most futsal club has received hundreds of "likes" and shares on Facebook after player and trainer Marek Bělor, a Romani community member, posted a photo expressing disagreement with the hateful remarks of SPD chair Tomio Okamura and Czech President Miloš Zeman. The club has taken a clear stance against the dissemination of negative attitudes toward minorities through which Okamura, his party and the Czech President are inciting racism and xenophobia in society.  full story

videoVIDEO: "We don't want Fascists here" - protests against Prague meeting of xenophobic parties from around Europe

16.12.2017 19:23 Several hundred demonstrators whistling loudly and shouting "Shame!" and "Down with Fascists!" arrived at Prague's TOP Hotel today, where a meeting of representatives of anti-immigration parties from around Europe was being held. Demonstrators assembled at the Roztyly metro station at 14:00 and peacefully marched from there to the hotel carrying European Union flags.  full story

Czech MP wants to close nonprofits, Romani psychology student diagnoses him

15.12.2017 6:39 As a young child I used to dream that one day a phase would arise in human society where the main priority would be empathy, love and peace. Unfortunately, I am 21 years old now and nothing of the sort has come to pass yet.  full story

Czech expert on extremism says solidarity through hate is very strong now

4.12.2017 9:23 Racism in the Czech Republic is apparently not any more frequent now than it has been, but the perspective on what one is allowed to say in public has been altered, according to Jan Charvát, an expert on extremism at Charles University in Prague. Czech society, according to him, is undergoing a "reformatting" of what we consider normal and what not, and this flows from disappointment over developments post-1989.  full story

Czech party functionary who called for murder of gays, Jews and Roma will no longer assist MP

29.11.2017 19:02 News server Aktuálně.cz reports that the secretary of the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" movement of Tomio Okamura (PSD), Jaroslav Staník, is ending his work as assistant to MP Jaroslav Holík (SPD). However, the reason, according to Holík, is not Staník's recent xenophobic remarks at the lower house.  full story

Czech cardinal congratulates hate-mongering party on their electoral results

24.11.2017 11:04 The head of the Catholic Church in the Czech Republic, Cardinal Dominik Duka, has congratulated the chair of the Freedom and Direct Democracy movement (SPD), Tomio Okamura, on his party's electoral results. "Permit me to congratulate you on the outcome of the elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic," Duka has written in a letter.  full story

Roma take to the streets to show political preferences on Czech state holiday

21.11.2017 8:06 The celebrations of the Velvet Revolution last Friday, 17 November were joined in Prague by a small group of Romani people from the Buči organization and the Romani Democratic Party. The memorial to the events of 1989 was visited by Czech presidential candidate Jiří Drahoš, among other politicians.  full story