Czech Police charge man who wore Wagner Group logo during the attack on the National Museum on charges of denial of genocide
The Czech Police have launched seven criminal proceedings against people arrested during the incident in front of the National Museum on 11 March in Prague, according to Czech Police President Martin Vondrášek, who made the announcement on public broadcaster Czech Television on Sunday. A person who wore the letter "Z" on his backpack and the logo of the mercenary Russian Wagner Group on his sleeve during the incident will go to trial.
The prosecutor has filed a motion for his punishment. Jan Lelek, the District Prosecutor for Prague 1, informed Czech Television that the prosecution is going forward.
The man is suspected of the crime of denying, doubting and approving of genocide, and police arrested him on that charge after the protest. Police are also investigating who was responsible for the Ukrainian flag carried by counter-protesters at the demonstration with the logo of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the inscription Карпатська Січ.
The incident happened on Saturday, 11 March, when several hundred participants of an anti-Government demonstration on Wenceslas Square attempted to storm the building of the National Museum to remove the Ukrainian flag from its facade. According to police, 20 people were arrested there and three officers were injured.
Police also subsequently rejected the allegation that they had fanned the flames of the conflict. They said they did not begin using force until several participants escalated their aggression and failed to respond to repeated instructions.
Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (Mayors and Independents -STAN) subsequently called the police intervention professional. “Currently police are investigating several other persons who visibly wore symbols at the demonstration that could be connected with the felony of denying, doubting, approving of and justifying genocide according to Section 405 of the Criminal Code,” police spokesperson Violeta Siřišťová told Romea.cz.
Speaking on Sunday, Police President Vondrášek recapped that some 20 people had been arrested for failing to follow police instructions in particular. Of the seven criminal proceedings launched, two concern speech during the assembly, another two are suspected of assaulting a public official, and the remaining three are suspected of attacking a car with a Ukrainian license plate that drove by, where police are addressing possible charges of property damage, rioting, and violence against a group of residents.
Demonstrator who wore the Wagner Group logo will be tried
The man who was photographed at the demonstration on 11 March with a “Z” on his backpack (the sign being used by the Russian Army during its war on Ukraine), as well as with the logo of the mercenary Russian Wagner Group on his sleeve, was arrested by police and informed he is suspected of committing felony denial, doubt and approval of genocide. “Last week the motion for punishment was filed in that case,” prosecutor Lelek told Czech Television; it will be handled by the District Court for Prague 1.
The Dean of the Faculty of National Economy at the University of Economics, Miroslav Ševčík, became involved in the incident, a fact that was one of several triggers for the current dispute about whether he should remain in his job. Ševčík claims to have just been accompanying a man who he says was beaten by the police at the scene on 11 March.
Police President Vondrášek says Ševčík spoke with a commander of the police intervention on the scene who told him that if he had witnessed any illegal behavior he should go to the Krakovská Street police station to report it. “No such report was made,” the police chief said.
Police are also investigating the Ukrainian flag with the inscription Карпатська Січ
According to the police spokesperson, the photographs of a counter-demonstrator near the National Museum carrying a Ukrainian flag with the logo of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the inscription Карпатська Січ are also being reviewed. “Police have been studying those photographs since the first recorded appearance of those symbols in a public space,” she told Romea.cz.
Police President Vondrášek also said that as part of monitoring their own work, the police are addressing 14 motions about their officers that have been filed over the situation at the museum, 13 of which are now in “warning” mode and which, unlike complaints, have been filed by non-participants (i.e., persons who did not directly participate in the events at issue). He added that police are very well aware of the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, and that they are also well aware that their role during public assemblies is just one of support, as the main roles in such gatherings are played by the convener and the municipality.
