Czech Constitutional Court: Complaint against decision to buy pig farm on Romani genocide site is inadmissable

The Czech Constitutional Court has declared inadmissible a complaint filed with it against the decision by the Government to approve the purchase of the pig farm in Lety located on the site of a former concentration camp for Romani people. That means the complaint did not meet the requirements, neither in terms of content nor in terms of form, for the court to review it.

Complaints against Government resolutions rarely make it onto the Constitutional Court’s agenda. The case was filed by Bohumír Rada.

The court informed Rada by letter that his complaint is inadmissable, which means the proceedings is now over. The resolution in question was approved last year by the then-coalition Government of then-Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Czech Social Democratic Party – ČSSD).

At Lety during WWII there was a concentration camp intended for Romani people in particular, and a remembrance site is now meant to be developed there. The motion to buy out the farm that was built on the site after the war was submitted to the cabinet by the Czech Culture Ministry, led by then-Czech Culture Mnister Daniel Herman (Christian Democrats – KDU-ČSL).

The state, according to the resolution, pledged to pay the AGPI firm CZK 372 million [EUR 14.6 million] (exclusive of VAT) to buy the farm. The state will also pay to demolish the pig farm, including the removal of environmentally hazardous waste and re-cultivation of the site.

Money from Norway Grants will serve to build a new memorial there. This summer the Museum of Romani Culture, the state-established entity that has taken over the facility, will establish the criteria for the architectural and artistic competition to design the form of the future remembrance site and visitors’ center.