Freedom of speech or racism? Okamura responds to police request for his parliamentary extradition
Criminal investigators have requested the extradition of Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) chair Tomio Okamura from the Chamber of Deputies over charges of inciting hatred or restricting the rights of a group during last year's controversial billboard campaign. The request was sent to the lower house on Tuesday. Okamura claims the prosecution is an attempt by the ruling coalition to silence him.
Tomio Okamura stated that the extradition request was due to a criminal complaint filed against TOP 09 politician Jiří Pospíšil. At a press conference in the Chamber of Deputies, Okamura responded to the complaint:
"The coalition is trying to retain power at all costs to the extent that they criminalize the opposition for its opinions. They want to prosecute me for the poster where I call to stop the Migration and Asylum Pact of the EU. This attempt to silence me is an attack on freedom of speech."
Okamura continued that he will not be silenced, especially when it comes to what he called the “safety of the Czech Republic” from “illegal African and Islamic migrants.” He added that his campaign had made the mistake of not also depicting a "veiled Muslim" on the posters. He denied that the posters were racist.
Okamura also said that he had already been questioned twice by police about the autumn campaign in connection with the case.
ANO party member, Radek Vondráček, agreed with the vulgar nature of the campaign, but questioned whether Okamura should be extradited:
[Vondracek] “Generally, we did not like the campaign. We thought it was just stupid, tasteless, but that doesn’t mean it’s a criminal offense.”
Deputy President of the Chamber of Deputies Jan Skopeček agreed:
“For me personally, the SPD campaign was disgusting and unethical. That said, I believe that we should be the ones who tell them that as well as journalists. And finally, it’s the voters who should ‘punish’ the party; it shouldn’t carry over into a legal case.”
Meanwhile, Czech Deputy PM and People's Party MEP Marian Jurečka has already spoken out against Okamura's extradition, saying the campaign was over the edge, inappropriate, and racist.
"Something like that really doesn't belong in a campaign and political battle,” he said. “We are in a democratic, developed country where there are supposed to be some legally elementary rights of humanity and humanism. What Tomio Okamura and the SPD demonstrated by defending themselves was absolutely beyond the pale.”
Others like Pirate MP Olga Richterová wrote on the X network that the Pirates would also vote for the issue and that neither she nor the lower house should judge on the illegality of the election campaign; instead, she claimed that an independent court should decide on the matter.
Alena Schillerová, chairwoman of the ANO parliamentary club, said she was not personally in favor of extradition. While she disagreed with the campaign that police suspect Okamura of using to incite hatred, calling it excessive, she believes he should not be prosecuted for it. She added that ANO politicians would need to discuss the matter within the club.
The police sent the request for Okamura's extradition to the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday morning. The police are not prosecuting anyone in the case yet, they are merely investigating the matter.
Several versions of the billboards were part of the SPD's election campaign. In addition to the AI-generated dark-skinned figure holding a knife, a poster of Romani boys smoking cigarettes also drew criticism.
