Historians in the Czech Republic are advocating changes to the penal code, calling for stricter measures against the glorification of communist regimes. They have therefore approached MPs and senators to propose an amendment in the Senate.
It is easy to purchase a T-shirt featuring a hammer and sickle or the Bolshevik leader Lenin online. “Lenin was one of the greatest mass murderers in history. Buying such a T-shirt should be unthinkable in a democratic country,” Martin Mejstřík told the Czech news channel ČT24. Mejstřík, a former leader of the 1989 student movement, is chairman of the association November Is Not Over (Spolek Listopad ještě neskončil).
One case has already been investigated by the police following a criminal complaint, but no offence was found. The shop selling the T-shirts is located on Politických vězňů Street in Prague, where the Communist Party is also based. Some party members sit on the board of the company that runs the shop.
For Mejstřík, the case remains unresolved: “That was the same dictatorship as the Nazis. How can they get away with it?” he told the news channel. He intends to lodge an appeal with the public prosecutor’s office.
A future amendment to the penal code could ensure stricter penalties for such cases if it includes the changes proposed by historians. They seek to equalise the punishment for glorifying National Socialism and Communism. In the Czech Republic, the distribution and display of Nazi symbols is punishable by up to three years in prison. However, no comparable law currently applies to communist symbols.
Historians from three institutions, including the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů), have now approached Members of Parliament and Senators with this request. Some of them have already signalled their support for the proposal. Mejstřík welcomes the historians’ efforts – as a Senator, he had tried to implement similar changes himself, but without success.
