Anti-communist legislation is an attack on democratic freedoms in the Czech Republic: AKEL

KSCM Rally, 2023 -- image via the KSCM

Statement from the Progressive Party of Working People of Cyprus (AKEL):

The new anti-communist legislation being promoted in the Czech Republic by the country's right-wing government constitutes a direct attack on democratic freedoms and the criminalisation of political life. The amendment to the Penal Code provides for up to ten years imprisonment for ‘any form of support and promotion of the Communist Movement’ and is a copy of similar measures from the era of McCarthyism and Hitlerism. Similar legislation promoted in other EU member-states, the US and elsewhere is based on the anti-Soviet distortion of the modern history of World War II and the ahistorical ideology of ‘two extremes’ which has been proven to be a vehicle for the far right.

AKEL condemns the proposed legislation, expresses its solidarity with the Communist Party of the country (Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia - KSCM) and will raise the issue at European and international level as a violation of democratic rights and freedoms. We note that this development targets, on the one hand, communist ideology and, on the other, the militant activity of the KSCM against NATO and the Czech Republic's involvement in the war in Ukraine, positions that have broad resonance among the people of the country. We also note that anti-communist persecution, sooner or later, turns against every democratic voice, against every different opinion.