Czech
lower house speaker condemns MP’s visit to neo-Nazi convicted of
racially-motivated murder
Prague, 27.1.2014 15:27, (ROMEA)
Tomio Okamura (Photo: Vít Hassan)
Czech MP Jan Hamáček (Czech Social
Democratic Party - ČSSD), the speaker of the lower house, has commented on the
recent visit paid by Czech MP Tomio Okamura to Vlastimil Pechanec, who is
serving time for the racially-motivated murder of a Romani man, calling the
visit “extremely inappropriate and unfortunate.” Hamáček posted the comment
through Facebook as follows: “In my opinion this casts a negative light not
only on Mr Okamura and his party, but on the entire Chamber of Deputies.”
Okamura, the chair of the Dawn of Direct
Democracy (Úsvit přímé demokracie) movement, was accompanied by Úsvit’s
vice-chair Jaroslav Novák when he visited the prison in Pardubice on Friday 25
January where Pechanec is serving a sentence for the racially-motivated murder
of Otto Absolon. The Úsvit representatives want a retrial for Pechanec, as they
believe his initial trial was manipulated; the petition for a retrial is to be
drafted by attorney Klára Samková, who is also the leading candidate for Úsvit
in the upcoming elections to the EP.
Czech Senator Jiří Dienstbier has also
criticized Okamura’s move, calling it a political tactic to win over right-wing
extremists. Dienstbier has been tapped to serve as human rights minister in the
incoming cabinet.
Pechanec was convicted of having stabbed
Absolon twice in the abdomen in July 2001 and was sent to prison for 17 years
in 2003. Prior to this incident he had a record of committing both felony and
misdemeanor violence against randomly-selected members of the Romani community.
ČTK,
ryz, translated by Gwendolyn Albert
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