News

A Prague court has acquitted Russian national Denis Gerasimov, the singer of a neo-Nazi rock group, Kolovrat, of propagating neo-Nazism in the Czech Republic. Mr Gerasimov was remanded in custody in January after officials found neo-Nazi propaganda in his suitcase as he prepared to depart from Prague's Ruzyne airport.

Mr Gerasimov's rock band, accused of promoting racism, had performed at the weekend at a skinhead concert in east Bohemia.

But, on Tuesday Judge Katerina Kohoutkova said the court had not found Mr Gerasimov guilty on any of three counts, including the singing of racist lyrics during live performances.

The prosecution has already appealed Tuesday's decision; Denis Gerasimov will remain in custody for the time being.

A collision between a car and a train at a railway crossing in the south-east Moravian region of Vyskov left one dead, one seriously injured on Tuesday. The accident took place in the afternoon at a crossing that featured warning lights but no gate, allowing the car to drive through. Railway officials said the warning signal was in operation.

State prosecutor Josef Blaha has dropped all charges against two men taken into custody earlier this month for having allegedly attempted to bribe MP Zdenek Koristka of the Freedom Union, a junior government coalition party, to help bring down the government in a vote of confidence. The charges against the two — Jan Vecerek, a lobbyist, and Marek Dalik, an adviser to the leader of the main opposition Civic Democratic Party — were dropped due to a lack of evidence. On Friday, the state prosecutor assigned to the politically charged case, Martin Fras, was relieved of his related responsibilities, for refusing to drop the charges as directed by a superior. The Civic Democrat leader, Mirek Topolanek, who now refuses to discuss the case publicly, had said that he merely sent Mr Dalik to find out how Mr Koristka was intending to vote and that Mr Vecerek facilitated the meeting.

Although the charges against the two men have been dropped, the police investigation into what the media is calling the 'Koristka affair' will continue. The Freedom Union MP, who agreed to a polygraph, or 'lie detector' test, claimed he was offered the equivalent of 300,000 euros and the post of Czech ambassador to Bulgaria to vote against the government coalition of which his party is a member.

Former Czech president Vaclav Havel opened the eighth successive Forum 2000 international conference in Prague on Sunday, with a speech celebrating a vibrant civil society as a guarantor of diversity. Speakers at this year's Forum 2000 conference, which continues until Wednesday and focuses on the role of civil society and globalization, include John Shattuck, the former U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic, and Jeremy Hobbs, the executive director of Oxfam, an international development and anti-poverty group.