Police in the Czech Republic notified the judiciary in November to open criminal cases against 49 people for publicly supporting Russia in the war against Ukraine, citing provisions of the Czech Criminal Code, public radio station iRozhlas announced on Tuesday, selected by EFE and Agerpres agencies.
The paragraph cited in this regard states that people who publicly support a committed crime or openly praise its perpetrators may be sentenced to one year in prison.
Another paragraph stipulates a penalty of up to five years of imprisonment for supporting movements or currents that are clearly aimed at oppressing rights and freedoms or that promote national, racial, religious or class enmity.
Showing sympathy for such movements or currents is punishable by imprisonment from six months to three years under the criminal code of the Czech Republic.
The Czech Republic recognized Russia as a terrorist regime
On February 26, two days after the beginning of the Russian military aggression in Ukraine, the Prosecutor General of the Czech Republic recalled the presence of these provisions in the criminal code. Since then, the total number of investigations opened by the police under these articles, which are directly related to the expression of the position on the war in Ukraine, has reached about a thousand, of which about 300 are currently under investigation.
Out of 86 such cases investigated in November, 49 were prosecuted.
On November 16, the Czech parliament followed the example of the legislatures of several European countries and recognized Russia as a terrorist regime. A week later, the European Parliament, in turn, adopted a resolution that included Russia in the category of state sponsors of terrorism.
The Communist Party of the Czech Republic, with the support of far-right movements, organized several large-scale protests against the current pro-Western government. In last year’s elections, the Czech communists were left without a seat in the Prague parliament for the first time in almost 80 years.
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Source: Hot News
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