Czech President Petr Pavel looks on during the award ceremony of the German-Czech student video competition "Never Again!/Už nikdy více!" at Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Germany, 09 July 2025.
EPA/Filip Singer
PRAGUE – Czech President Petr Pavel on Thursday signed an amendment to the country’s criminal code that criminalises the promotion of communist ideology, placing it on the same footing as Nazi propaganda.
The revised legislation introduces prison sentences of up to five years for anyone who “establishes, supports or promotes Nazi, communist, or other movements which demonstrably aim to suppress human rights and freedoms or incite racial, ethnic, national, religious or class-based hatred.”
The change follows calls from Czech historical institutions, including the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, to correct what they viewed as a legal imbalance.
The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM), led by MEP Kateřina Konečná and now part of a new electoral alliance called “Stačilo” (“Enough”), condemned the move as politically motivated.
“This is yet another failed attempt to push KSČM outside the law and intimidate critics of the current regime,” the party said.
It remains unclear how the new law will be applied to parties like KSČM. The party currently holds no seats in parliament, but recent polls put its alliance at 5% – enough to return to the lower house in October’s elections.
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