SPD party and leader Tomio Okamura charged with inciting racial hatred

Czech MP Tomio Okamura and his Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party have been charged with inciting racial hatred. The District Prosecutor’s Office for Prague 1 confirmed the news, saying that the charges relate to controversial posters in the party’s election campaign.  One of the posters featured a dark-skinned man holding a bloodied knife alongside the slogans: “Shortages in healthcare won’t be solved by imported ‘surgeons’” and “Stop the EU Migration Pact.” Another poster showed two young Roma boys smoking cigarettes.

The prosecutor argues that such imagery and messaging cross the line from political expression into incitement to hatred, particularly targeting migrants and Roma communities. The prosecution is seeking a suspended sentence and a financial penalty for Okamura, and a monetary fine for the SPD party.

Okamura has denounced the charges as part of what he called the governing coalition’s ongoing attempts to criminalize him and his party.