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Czech Jews shocked as conviction of
Mein Kampf publisher overturned
By Magnus Bennett
PRAGUE, Oct. 17 (JTA) - Czech Jewish leaders are dismayed that the
country's Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a publisher of
Mein Kampf.
After publishing thousands of copies of Hitler's anti-Semitic text in
Czech without footnotes or disclaimers, Michal Zitko was fined about
$60,000 last year for "supporting and promoting a movement aimed at
suppressing human rights and freedoms." The conviction was upheld on
appeal at the beginning of 2002.
But the Czech Supreme Court has returned the case to prosecutors, saying
Zitko could not have promoted Nazism because a movement has to exist at
the time when a suspected crime is committed.
The court's public relations office was not available for comment.
Zitko's defense lawyer, Tomas Sokol, welcomed the ruling.
"It was not proved that there existed a movement which would be promoted
or supported by the publication of this book," he said.
The ruling shocked Czech Jewish groups and politicians. Interior Minister
Stanislav Gross called it "shocking and crazy," while Justice Minister
Pavel Rychetsky said the decision had been "made in haste."
The Czech Federation of Jewish Communities said it is "very
disappointed."
"It is obvious that this is an incredible mistake," said the
federation's
executive director, Tomas Kraus. "We can only hope that this is a mistake
and there's not something else behind it which we can only speculate
about."
Kraus said he would ask the justice minister to push for the law to be
tightened.
"The wording of the law is just too vague," said Kraus, a former
lawyer.
"If the criminal code had said 'promoting Nazism, fascism or similar
movements aimed at suppressing human rights or freedoms,' there would not
have been a problem."
Rychetsky played down press speculation that the ruling could make it
difficult to prosecute anyone indulging in neo-Nazi activity. He said
promoting Nazism remains a criminal offense and that the court ruling did
not set a legal precedent.
"Were someone to say that the gas chambers were a good thing, that would
still be punishable by the law," Rychetsky said.
