Activists demonstrated in Prague in support of an imprisoned hunger striker

1. 6. 2016

About a hundred people demonstrated in Prague on Tuesday in support of Martin Ignačák, who has been accused of allegedly planning an "attack against a train". Ignačák has been held in detention for thirteen months now. He has gone on hunger strike after a Prague court has refused to approve his release from detention.

Martin Ignačák was arrested in connection with the so-called Operation Fénix. This was a police action whose aim it was to uncover a "terrorist plot" allegedly hatched by left wing extremists in the Czech Republic. At the demonstration on Tuesday, political scientist Ondřej Slačálek pointed out that all the police accusations have turned out to be unsubstantiated. He added that it was shocking that the Czech media have ignored the fact that a "political prisoner is on hunger strike in the Czech Republic now".

The prosecution of the "Czech terrorist group" is highly doubtful, says the website Deník Referendum. "Operation Fénix" was supposed to have uncovered a "terrorist cell" which was made up of five left-wing activists. But it has turned out that two of these activists were police agents. The "terrorist cell" set a car on fire, but the accused argue that the attack had been devised by the police agents. Czech prosecutors have refused to publish the wiretaps of discussions within the group from the time when it debated the possibility of carrying out this violent act. They have also refused to publish the reports of the police agents within the group from this time.

Source in Czech HERE

There are stories like this in the Czech Republic every day that never make it to the outside world because of a lack of translation. You can support us and help reveal what's happening in Central Europe today. Please make a contribution today on www.paypal.com and send your donation to redakce@blisty.cz. We fully rely on crowdfunding in our work. Thank you.

Vytisknout