Extremists threaten legal expert

The recent resignation of a state-appointed legal expert on extremism has illuminated government inadequacies in dealing with radical political groups.

Michal Mazel, a prominent lawyer whose work has led to groundbreaking legal actions against right-wing extremism, ended his activities as a state legal expert for extremism Jan. 11, claiming the current system left him too exposed to threats and pressure from the racist groups whose illegal activities he helped curb.

"It's hardly possible to stay calm when neo-Nazis start circulating information about where you live on their websites," Mazel said in a statement describing his reasons for resigning.  

Mazel has been a target of violent threats from extremists since 2009, when his legal testimony led to the conviction of two right-wing radicals whose arson attack severely burned and maimed a 3-year-old Roma girl in Vítkov, north Moravia. In the following years, he engaged in a court process against neo-Nazi rock bands, as well as a successful bid to dissolve the rightist Workers Party on constitutional grounds.

Prior to his resignation, Mazel was involved in the trial of Lucie Šlégrová, a 22-year-old Workers Party member accused of promoting Nazism at a right-wing rally in Janov, north Bohemia, in 2010 - one year after right-wing extremists tried to organize a march against the area's Roma residents.

During her trial, Šlégrová's attorney, Petr Kočí, filed a complaint against Mazel, voicing Šlégrová's concern that Mazel was biased against her because of his allegedly Jewish origin. In addition, Kočí alleged Mazel was receiving larger-than-standard payments for his legal advice - an accusation Mazel and other lawyers have called baseless.

"As a person of Jewish descent, Mazel is undoubtedly sensitive to the question of the Holocaust," Šlégrová wrote in a complaint filed by her attorney. "Like many of his tribesmen, he has a tendency to react to these topics with a heightened sensitivity that could lead to bias."

This complaint was the final straw for Mazel.

"I'm fed up with reading on the Internet that I should be hit in the head with something, or that I am a stingy Jew who should get a black mamba as a present for Hanukkah," said Mazel, who incidentally is not even Jewish.

The incident has since sparked an uproar at the Czech Chamber of Attorneys (ČAK), whose members addressed multiple complaints against Kočí's actions in a Jan. 16 board meeting, distancing themselves from "expressions of nationalist, race or religion-based hatred."

Kočí responded he had simply been acting in the interest of his client.

Beyond the threats and racist rhetoric, legal-community observers  say Mazel's resignation points to a deeper systemic problem.

Justice Ministry figures indicate there are only five legal experts on extremism in the country. According to Miroslav Mareš, who also worked as an extremism adviser before resigning in 2009 over concerns similar to Mazel's, the state puts too much emphasis on the roles of such experts, making them the focus of unwanted attention from extremists.

"It's a problem of the entire justice system, which burdens these experts with a responsibility that should be equally shared by police, judges, and prosecutors," he said.

Mazel echoed these concerns, claiming the state should only turn to legal experts with questions pertaining to history, sociology and political science.

"Quite often, I would be consulted about things that were quite self-evident, that didn't require any significant level of expertise," he said.

The Workers Party Mazel helped dissolve in 2009 has since reinvented itself as the Workers Party for Social Justice (DSSS) and continues racially motivated activities in ethnically tense regions throughout the country.

Asked for recommendations on fighting radicalism, Mazel pointed to the myriad social problems that typically plague ethnically divided communities.

"Social animosity toward minorities, namely the Roma, is growing and could pose a real problem in certain localities," he said. "The best way to fight extremism is to have an administration that works well, so people aren't tormented by the corruption and arrogance of their elected representatives. Also, police should know how to react to petty crime, whose perpetuation irritates citizens."

"Extremism grows where democracy fails," he concluded.

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at
mhulpachova@praguepost.com