Top court rejects government’s petition to ban extremist Workers’ Party
The Supreme Administrative Court on Wednesday rejected a petition by the
Czech government to ban the far-right Workers’ Party. The court said the
cabinet had not provided sufficient evidence that the small extremist group
- which first made headlines last year when its supporters staged a march
on a Romany ghetto - posed a real threat to democracy. The verdict was
applauded by the party, but probably by few others. The Czech government
will now have to bring more proof to support its position, or come up with
different ways of dealing with right-wing extremism.
When presiding Judge Vojtěch Šimíček of the Supreme Administrative
Court read the verdict refusing to ban the extremist Workers’ Party on
Wednesday, its supporters applauded and unravelled a party banner right in
the courtroom.
It took the judge more than one hour to justify the ruling, but the
reasoning was simple enough: the government had failed to provide
sufficient evidence that the far-right grouping posed a genuine threat to
democracy. Judge Šimíček had this to say:
“The government produced no evidence of the radicalization of the
party’s activities with the ultimate goal of seizing power through
non-democratic means, or of its violation of the Right to Assembly Act. The
proceedings before this court did not show that the Workers’ Party’s
activities, as documented by the government, provide reasons to dissolve
it.”
The Workers’ Party made international news in November, when several
hundred neo-Nazi skinheads, party sympathizers, staged a march on a Romany
ghetto in the northern town of Litvínov, an attempt that in ended in a
pitched battle with the police. The government responded by petitioning the
Supreme Administrative Court to ban the party. But Wednesday’s verdict
gave the party members a reason to celebrate. Tomáš Málek is the head of
the Workers’ Party Brno branch.
“No, there’s not going to be any march today, we’ll just go and get
together somewhere, to talk things over. We are extremely happy with the
verdict but we were sort of counting on it. The government’s proposal was
based on absolutely irrelevant arguments, so we were very confident.”
The verdict is a major setback for the government in its stance on
extremism. While the Workers’ Party is relatively small, with some 600
members, its activities have gained a certain momentum. In 2006, the party
won three seats in two municipal councils. The party’s strategy is
straightforward – offering hard-line approaches to growing racial
tensions with the country’s Romany minority. Miroslav Mareš is an expert
on extremism at Brno’s Masaryk University.
“I think that there is no evidence of the Workers’ Party posing a
really serious threat to democracy. So I believe that the main problem now
will be to find evidence that concrete members of the Workers’ Party are
involved in violent or neo-Nazi activities.”
The party can now enjoy its victory and all the media attention. If the
government hopes to crack down on them in the future, it will have to come
back with solid evidence. Or it can try and deprive the party of support by
moving racial tension and other social issues much higher up on its list of
priorities.
| 
When presiding Judge Vojtěch Šimíček of the Supreme Administrative
Court read the verdict refusing to ban the extremist Workers’ Party on
Wednesday, its supporters applauded and unravelled a party banner right in
the courtroom.
The verdict is a major setback for the government in its stance on
extremism. While the Workers’ Party is relatively small, with some 600
members, its activities have gained a certain momentum. In 2006, the party
won three seats in two municipal councils. The party’s strategy is
straightforward – offering hard-line approaches to growing racial
tensions with the country’s Romany minority. Miroslav Mareš is an expert
on extremism at Brno’s Masaryk University.
Related articles
Also in section "News"
Most popular articles