Czech Police bring first cases against social media users who approved of the white supremacist terrorism against the Christchurch mosques

The daily Deník N reported last week that the Czech Police have accused a social media user of the crime of expressing approval for the March terrorist attacks committed against mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand during which a right-wing radical shot 50 people dead. Officers are also investigating other such cases, although it is unclear whether full prosecutions of them will ensue.

“I confirm that the Prague Police have begun a prosecution on charges of the crime of promoting and supporting terrorism,” prosecutor Martin Bílý of the High State Prosecutor’s office in Prague told the daily. If convicted, the accused faces between five to 15 years in prison as well as confiscation of assets and property.

The prosecutor said police have also begun the prosecution of another four social media users who posted support for the March attacks. “Police are conducting an investigation of four social media posts that fulfill the definition of the crime of promoting and supporting terrorism. Whether those prosecutions go forward, or whether the matter will be dealt with in another way, has not yet been decided,” Bílý said.

“The analysis of each post is still ongoing. It’s painstaking work, specialists from the anti-extremism department assess an enormous amount of data and contextualize it,” Prague Police spokesperson Andrea Zoulová said.

According to the daily, the Prague Police are investigating more than 30 cases in which social media users approved of the attack. A similar amount of social media posts is also being addressed by the national-level Organized Crime Unit.

Shortly after the terrorist attack was committed against the Christchurch mosques, the Czech Police announced they would be investigating anybody who committed the felony of approving of that crime, and that they would primarily being investigating communications using the Internet and social media. At the same time, Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamáček (Czech Social Democratic Party – ČSSD) and Police President Jan Švejdar both said that any incitement to hatred is unacceptable.