Pilsen appeals court reduces former MP Jaroslav Škárka’s sentence for hate speech

The Regional Court of Appeal in Pilsen on Tuesday reduced the one-year suspended sentence imposed on former MP Jaroslav Škárka for hate speech to a probationary period of 18 months.

Škárka, the former chairman of the Public Affairs Party (VV), wrote on Facebook last year that premature babies with disabilities are “undeveloped monsters with low IQs” who are useless to society and “must be gotten rid of.”

A Pilsen district court had found Škárka guilty of inciting hatred against a group of people or seeking to restrict their rights and freedoms. He could have faced up to three years in prison. In his defence, Škárka said he had consumed too much wine when he wrote the post.