Filip Vávra (right) fined 3000 crowns for refusing to testify.

Prosecution of David Duke at a standstill

Translation by Gwendolyn Albert

The criminal prosecution of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke in the Czech Republic has come to a standstill. Filip Vávra, a longtime activist on the extreme-right scene who recently invited the American to the Czech Republic, has refused to testify regarding the circumstances of Duke’s visit. The Týden.cz web server reports that his testimony is crucial. Police officers arrested Duke at the end of April during his visit to Prague. They charged him with denying the Holocaust in his book My Awakening, which has been released in Czech translation as Moje Probuzení. He was subsequently deported from the country.

According to the web server, the state prosecutor instructed the police to interrogate not only Vávra, but also Kryštof Kozák of the department of American Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University, in whose course Duke was to have spoken. In the end the university did not permit the event. The state prosecutor has written that “given the existing state of evidence it is not possible to prosecute the accused [Duke]”.

The server reports that Vávra refused to testify at the time of Duke’s arrest, saying he might “cause [him]self problems.” He is said to have visited a police station a second time at the start of this week. The server reports he has once again refused to testify and has been fined CZK 3 000 as a result. The server also reports that his attorney, Klára Slámová, has filed a complaint against the fine, calling it unconstitutional behavior on the part of the police. However, according to the server, Vávra could face more fines and higher ones should he continue to remain silent.

Týden.cz reports the police are refusing to comment. “The investigation of the case is ongoing. However, we have no new information to release,” Prague Police spokesperson Eva Miklíková told the server….

 
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