Case Over Hate Speech by MP Turek Closed for Good: Some Posts Deemed Potentially Criminal, But Statute of Limitations Has Expired

The police decision to close the investigation into MP Filip Turek (Motorists party) over hate speech posted on social media took legal effect on Saturday. This was announced on Monday by Jan Vychyta, head of the supervising Prague 4 District Prosecutor's Office.

According to the prosecutor, some of the published content did not constitute any criminal offence, but other posts could formally meet the criteria for several hate-motivated crimes. The problem is that the posts were published more than five years ago, meaning the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution has already run out.

The prosecutor also noted that police concluded Turek himself was indeed the author of these posts — contrary to his own claims to the contrary. Vychyta stressed, however, that even if the offence had not been time-barred, this would not automatically mean the MP was guilty — the matter would have had to be decided by a court based on full evidentiary proceedings.

Last week it was already reported that police had dropped the investigation into Turek specifically due to the expired statute of limitations, and that no criminal prosecution threatens either the publisher or the authors at Deník N, who drew attention to dozens of racist, sexist and hateful posts on the politician's Facebook page following last year's parliamentary elections. At the time, Turek told ČTK that the police's decision did not surprise him, since he "did nothing."

The outlet had pointed out that the newly elected MP had repeatedly posted references to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. The prosecutor also confirmed that the investigation into Deník N on suspicion of defamation has likewise been closed for good — the inquiry found no evidence of either a crime or a misdemeanor in the outlet's actions.

Turek had earlier apologized for some of the criticized statements, but denied authorship of certain posts. Following this, the Motorists party filed a police report alleging possible defamation, false accusation, unauthorized access to a computer system, and violation of personal rights — in particular, the party disputed the authenticity of his comment about a burned girl injured in the 2009 arson attack on a Roma family's house in Vítkov na Opavsku.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz