19 December 2007
Three Czech soldiers are likely to be discharged for attending meetings of a neo-Nazi group. The newspaper ‘Mlada Fronta Dnes’ reported that the soldiers, who belonged to elite army units, regularly attended international marches by neo-Nazis citing sources in the Czech police service. Vlastimil Picek, the army's chief of staff, said the case was still under investigation. He has proposed that newly enlisted soldiers formally pledge that they are not affiliated with any group supporting racism.
Meanwhile, Czech police are investigating several students of a high school in the town of Liberec who had themselves photographed holding Nazi flags, with one of them giving the Nazi salute, the ‘Pravo’ newspaper reports. The photo has recently been sent to the school’s headmaster from a mobile phone by a student who left for another school, the paper writes. "We have been investigating the case since November when the school management informed us about it. It is not clear yet whether the students committed any crime. The case is being dealt with by the police squad specializing in extremism," a police spokeswoman told the newspaper.