Czech juvenile charged with online hate crimes against minorities now also charged with buying chemicals to make explosives
A young man from Moravia in the Czech Republic who was already facing charges for hateful verbal attacks on minorities through social media since June 2024 has been newly charged with procuring chemical materials for producing explosives. The list of his prosecutions has thus expanded to include other offenses, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Olomouc Region Radek Bartoš told the Czech News Agency (ČTK).
The investigation is proceeding and the juvenile is still in custody. The case is being investigated by detectives from the National Counterterrorism, Extremism and Cybercrime Agency.
The police decided in February to expand the prosecution of the juvenile to include a count of illegal weapons possession, and his complaint against that move was rejected by the public prosecutor this month. “The essence of the newly-prosecuted action is the procurement of chemical substances to produce a pyrotechnic flash composition having the character of an explosive, its production, and its storage,” Bartoš said.
Attacks motivated by bias are very serious and frequently ignored. Have you become the victim of a bias crime? Call the free phone line of the In IUSTITIA organization, 800 922 922, or contact the ROMEA, o.p.s. organization.
Detectives arrested the juvenile, who is Czech, in June 2024 in Moravia. In addition to the original charge of supporting and promoting terrorism and also of founding, supporting, and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms, for which an adult offender would face up to 15 years in prison, the list of charges has been expanded since November to include illegal weapons possession and the making of dangerous threats.
Bartoš previously told ČTK that the young man allegedly established publicly accessible communication channels via the Internet on which he and other individuals published graphic, visual, and audio-visual material with the symbolism of Nazi Germany and material depicting attacks on members of minorities. According to Bartoš, the accused was attempting to assemble a group to systematically focus on various forms of hateful attacks on members of religious, ethnic, political, and sexual groups or minorities.
The young man now being prosecuted was accused of inciting other people to commit such hateful attacks. According to Czech news servers Deník N and Voxpot, he was the co-founder of a group on Telegram whose members radicalized each other.
The social media group had hundreds of members who were often minors. The news servers reported that he was detained in connection with the preparation of a terrorist attack on Rainbow Pride, Slovakia’s largest public event for the LGBT+ community.
However, according to prosecutors, the juvenile is not being prosecuted for preparing an attack on the Bratislava parade because he voluntarily refrained from undertaking the attack.
