Tomio Okamura

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

Crime report filed after Czech politician calls for murder of minorities

20.11.2017 11:22 News server iDNES.cz reported last week that Jaroslav Staník, the secretary for the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) movement chaired by Tomio Okamura, has been reported to the state prosecutor on suspicion of criminal activity. Activist Jan Cemper filed the complaint after Staník made remarks about minorities that included calls for their murder.  full story

Czech MP trafficks in poverty, exploits Romani people - who's the "parasite" now?

4.11.2017 21:28 Tomio Okamura and his "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) party sharply objected, during their election campaign, to people who depend on social welfare in the Czech Republic. Candidates for the SPD called such people "inadaptables" or "parasites".  full story

Czech Republic: Protesters shout "Nazis Go Home" in front of Okamura's campaign office

22.10.2017 13:32 Several dozen people protested last night in front of the Prague campaign office of the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" party (SPD), led by Tomio Okamura, against the fact that the hate group has been elected to the Chamber of Deputies. "Welcome refugees, Nazis go home!", demonstrators chanted beneath the windows of Hotel Čechie.  full story

Czech elections 2017: ANO wins big, SocDems down but not out, Pirates score gains as does hatemongering Okamura

22.10.2017 12:34 The hands-down winner of this year's elections to the Chamber of Deputies is the governing ANO movement of Andrej Babiš. Second place goes to the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) at 18 percentage points behind, the biggest discrepancy between the top two parties in the history of the Czech lower house.  full story

Czech party apparently trolled into posting photo of its leader on Facebook with Nazi swastika

12.10.2017 10:59 More and more Czech parties are using hateful, racist slogans during the closing phase of their campaigns to be seated in Parliament. Public broadcaster Czech Television is running a hateful, anti-Islam advertisement from the "Bloc agains Islamicization" group, and on 7 October the official Facebook page of the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) party, headed by Tomio Okamura, posted their leader's photograph along with a Nazi swastika.  full story

Czech Christian Democratic MEPs file criminal charges against Czech MP Okamura for defamation and harming their good name

18.9.2017 15:10 In a press release issued on 14 September, Czech Christian Democratic MEPs Pavel Svoboda, Michaela Šojdrová and Tomáš Zdechovský announced that they have filed criminal charges against Czech MP Tomio Okamura, whose election campaign is called "The Courage to Speak the Truth" and who has disseminated a deceptive list of the names of 12 MEPs whom he is alleging voted at the European Parliament (EP) in favor of sanctions against the Czech Republic because the country decided not to receive refugees as part of the EU's quota system. All three of the Christian Democratic MEPs can prove that they voted against the resoution Okamura is referring to.  full story