Czech Police confirm last year's "flour attack" on Romani vocalist Jan Bendig was prearranged and staged, he and his accomplice could be fined for lying to investigators
Last year it seemed that Romani singer Jan Bendig had become the target of an unusual assault at a red carpet appearance before the ceremony for the Czech Nightingale popular music awards. The assailant, whom the media later identified as Lukáš Procházka, poured a bag of flour over Bendig before fleeing.
At the time, Bendig claimed to not know who the assailant was or why he did it. However, a police investigation has revealed that the entire little scene was prearranged and staged.
Bendig and an accomplice now face the prospect of being fined for lying to police when giving their statements. News of the police findings was first broken by the Prima television station’s Showtime program on Wednesday evening.
Showtime reported that police spokesperson Richard Hrdina confirmed the incident was staged. “Detectives from the department of extremism and terrorism properly investigated the whole incident and learned, as a result of their interrogations, that both men involved had prearranged the incident, which means no crime was committed. The entire matter has been shelved and will be sent to the relevant administrative body to be heard. Since both men involved are suspected of having committed the misdemeanor of giving a false explanation to the police, they could each be fined up to CZK 50,000 [EUR 2,000],” police spokesperson Richard Hrdina told news server Romea.cz, adding that two people committed the misdemeanor.
Hrdina also told Romea.cz that the police did not find anybody else knew about the arrangement, such as journalists from the tabloids. “Nobody else knew about it, it wasn’t prepared like that,” he said.
The Prima Television station tried to get a statement from Bendig. His manager, Lukáš Rejmon, answered questions in a telephone call and denied that the incident had been prearranged and staged.
Rejmon claimed that the case was still being investigated and that they had no information about the findings. “I don’t get why that would have been staged,” he told the Showtime editors.
When Rejmon was informed that Showtime had acquired a police statement confirming that the scene was staged, he said he had no such information and could not comment. Hrdina told Romea.cz that all those involved had been properly contacted and informed about the result of the investigation.
