The Municipal Court in Brno Thursday sentenced six members of the Czech outlawed far-right Workers' Party (DS) to fines and probation over public racist statements they made at the May Day rally in Brno in 2009, state attorney Jan Lata told CTK. The defendants received four to six months' suspended sentences and were fined 20,000-30,000 crowns. Lata said the defendants had incited hatred for immigrants and some ethnic groups, Romanies in particular, with their statements. One of them supported a movement suppressing human rights and freedoms. Former party leader Tomas Vandas said Thursday it was incredible that some people were being tried over expressing their views at a legal public rally. Vandas said the accusations were expedient. At the demonstration last year, Vandas warned of immigration and spoke on behalf of "decent" citizens at the housing project Janov in Litvinov, north Bohemia. Vandas went on to speak about a destructive immigration wave. DS members Jiri Stepanek and Petr Kotab criticised Vietnamese crime.
The Prague Monitor
