The Czech Supreme Court (NS) has upheld a three-year prison sentence for Michal Moravec, singer of the Imperium band, for having spread racist lyrics, and it turned down his appellate review, NS spokesman Petr Knoetig told CTK Friday. Moravec asked the NS to annul the previous verdict of lower-level courts. Now he can only file a constitutional complaint. Moravec originally faced up to eight years in prison if found guilty.
He was also charged with drunk driving for which the court banned from driving motor vehicles for two years. By coincidence, Moravec was arrested within an extensive police raid against the organisers of neo-Nazi concerts. However, he was charged with an act committed a longer time ago. His defence counsel argued that Moravec had not committed the crime he was charged with as the lyrics did not contain anything unlawful. Moreover, it was difficult to understand them, he said. According to the charges, Moravec had CDs of songs with lyrics celebrating national socialism produced. The CD was called Triumph of the Will, alluding to the propaganda film by Leni Riefenstahl on the NSDAP congress in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1934. Moravec was then partially spreading the CDs himself and promoted them at public concerts.
The CD's booklet includes a text about the "Leader" (Fuehrer) whose ideas words and deeds must never be forgotten. The band was also singing "white revolution - the only solution" in English. Moravec said the band was actually not singing "white revolution" but "write revolution," arguing with his bad pronunciation of English lyrics.
Prague Daily Monitor
