Court sentences Prague man to 7.5 years in prison for sending anti-Semitic threats

A court on Friday sentenced Pavel Rus to seven and a half years in prison for sending anti-Semitic documents to institutions and officials, and sending death threats to judges and prosecutors. The man was found guilty of seven different crimes, also including threatening to commit terrorism and supporting terrorism. Mr. Rus denies his guilt. He has previously emphasised that the documents were not sent by him, but by his wife, and described himself as a “scapegoat”.

According to her testimony, Mr. Rus's wife was afraid of him, and he forced her to send the documents through physical and psychological violence. In addition to the aforementioned crimes, which began in April 2021, the Prague-based IT specialist also made threats with the aim of influencing a public authority and an official, incited hatred against a group of people, and made false accusations.