Man caused train crashes then left Arabic messages to provoke anti-Muslim backlash, prosecutors say
Defendant faces life in prison if found guilty of terror charges in Czech Republic
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A 70-year-old man allegedly caused two train crashes and left Arabic messages at the scene, in an attempt to provoke a backlash against Muslims.
Prosecutors in the Czech Republic told local media that the pensioner chopped down trees so they would fall over the railway tracks near Mlada Boleslav, a small city around 40 miles north of the country's capital, Prague.
State attorney Marek Bodlak said the defendant left leaflets at the scene “containing linguistically garbled threatening texts to evoke that they were written by a jihadist”.
The man who is currently on remand, faces life in prison if found guilty of causing the collisions, which occurred in June and July last year.
"The accused is a native Czech citizen, motivated by the effort to raise concerns among the population about the Muslim migration wave and the commission of terrorist attacks," Mr Bodlak told Czech newspaper Lidove noviny.
Police have accused the unnamed man of a terrorist attack.
The Czech Republic’s criminal code says attempts to “seriously intimidate the population” can be classed as such.
Despite causing no injuries, the crashes triggered a wave of xenophobia and Islamophobia on social media in the central European country, Czech news website Britske listy reported.
Martin Konvicka, a high profile anti-Islamic activist in the Czech Republic, reportedly blamed Muslims for the attack, failing to mention the suspicious nature of the messages, which had been transliterated into Latin.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments