Secretary General of Council of Europe expresses outage over National Party ad

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis expressed outrage on Friday over a TV ad by the Czech neo-Nazi National Party, offering a “final solution to the Gypsy question”. Under the law on political parties, the ad was broadcast this week by public broadcaster Czech TV ahead of elections to the European Parliament. But the station’s director has said it will not air again. Czech TV also filed a lawsuit against the ultra-right party. Secretary General Davis said in a press release on Friday that he shared the concern of a large number of TV viewers in the Czech Republic. In his statement, he also said he believed that the use of the words ‘final solution’ transgressed the framework for freedom of speech. The expression was used by the Nazis in the extermination of millions of Jews, Romanies, handicapped and others during World War II.