News

Perpetrators of domestic violence in the Czech Republic could gain the chance to undergo therapy or be given special aid in the future, the minister in charge of human rights and ethnic minorities, Džamila Stehlíková, stated on Friday. Guidelines for working with individuals with tendencies towards violence will be prepared by the committee for domestic violence prevention, part of the government Council for Equal Opportunities. Similar programmes already exist in the US, Canada, Scandinavia as well as neighbouring Austria. Since 2007, legislation has ensured police in the Czech Republic can evict individuals from their homes for ten days, a measure aimed to protect victims and break the cycle of abuse. Last year almost 900 male and less 10 female perpetrators were forced to temporarily leave their homes. Almost 60 were repeat cases. Minister Stehlikova has pointed out that cases of repeated violence show there is a need to focus more on the perpetrators in dealing with the problem.

Czech tennis star Nicole Vaidišová has made it to the final 16 in the women’s singles competition at the Australian Open. In the third round, Vaidišová – the twelfth seed - defeated Ai Sugiyama of Japan in straight sets: 6:3, 6:4. Vaidišová will next face US player Serena Williams. Williams defeated the Czech player at the Australian Open last year in the semi-finals.

A march planned by neo-Nazis in Plzeň on Saturday has been banned by the town’s authorities. The march had been planned by neo-Nazis in protest against what they called the curtailment of freedom of speech. Far-right groups were unhappy with the decision of Prague authorities in November to ban a similar march through the town’s Jewish quarter on the anniversary of Kristallnacht – a Nazi pogrom. The neo-Nazis were planning to march through Plzeň on the anniversary of the transportation of the town’s Jews to the concentration camp Terezín. Plzeň authorities had originally allowed the march to take place, and hundreds of neo-Nazis were expected to turn up, but, on Thursday, in the face of strong media pressure, the municipality outlawed the march.

Visa announced on Thursday that its customers in the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary could have been left out of pocket following a glitch in its systems earlier this week. An unspecified number of customers who withdrew money from ATMs in the region at the beginning of the week have been left with duplicated withdrawals on their accounts. A spokesperson for the company said that customers could have been charged on more than one occasion for each withdrawal that they made. One Polish newspaper reported that its editor had been charged on 17 occasions for a single withdrawal. Visa has declined to comment upon the number of customers affected by the glitch. The firm did, however, stress that this was not the work of hackers. According to a spokesperson, the problem has now been fixed, and customers will be refunded.