Czech Police President Martin Vondrasek has revealed that his force has launched 73 criminal prosecutions in connection with cases of spreading false and offensive information on disinformation servers. The announcement came during a meeting of the Senate subcommittee on internal security where Vondrasek spoke about the development of crime and security threats. He warned about the expected next wave of refugees from Asia and Africa entering the EU, and about the increase in hate speech against Ukrainians in connection with Russian aggression against Ukraine. The police have initiated criminal proceedings in about 70 cases. There were also four cases of cyberattacks by foreign powers on servers and information systems of Czech public administration offices in 2022.

Vondrasek also reported that the police recorded about 182,000 crimes in 2022, up 19% from the previous year. However, this was fewer than before the coronavirus epidemic, which saw restrictions on movement introduced. The crime rate among foreigners increased by 1.2% last year, and by 0.6% among Ukrainians. He noted that this was a small increase given the roughly 330,000 Ukrainian refugees registered in the Czech Republic. Crimes involving Ukrainians mostly took place within their community, with the exceptions being financial crime via the internet and people smuggling.

Pavla Novotna, director of the Interior Ministry’s asylum and migration policy department, told senators that there are currently 1.1 million foreigners in the country, about one-tenth of the population. Novotna said the demographic structure of Ukrainian refugees coming to the country has changed in the last ten weeks, with 2,000 to 2,500 Ukrainians arriving per week, and half of them refugees of working age who are coming to the Czech Republic to work. Novotna said the Interior Ministry is preparing a new law on foreign residence in the Czech Republic to digitise the whole process. Changes in the rules are also planned to stay in line with upcoming EU regulations. The ministry is also preparing an amendment to the penal code and the criminal laws concerning the use of intelligence information in criminal proceedings and the criminalisation of acting in favour of a foreign power, known as civilian espionage.

Article by Prague Forum