Czech Appeals Court Rules Sculptor Killed Skinhead in Self-Defense

The Czech High Court on Friday overturned the conviction of a former U.S. resident, sculptor Pavel Opocensky, saying he killed a teen-age skinhead in self-defense, the Czech CTK news agency reported.

A Prague court had sentenced Opocensky in March to three years in prison for fatally stabbing the skinhead, who was attacking two bystanders.

The court had found Opocensky guilty of causing grievous bodily harm resulting in death.

According to evidence presented in court, Opocensky, who had returned to his newly democratic homeland after spending years in the United States, went to the defense of two people being assaulted by a group of skinheads outside a pub in March, 1991.

Opocensky plunged a knife into the neck of one of the skinheads, 17-year-old Ales Martinu, who later died of his wounds.

Opocensky appealed his sentence to the High Court, saying he had been attacked by Martinu.

According to testimony, the incident began when the skinheads attacked a passerby who had reprimanded them for shouting, “Heil Hitler!”

The skinhead then sprayed tear gas into the face of a second passerby who went to the aid of the first.

A lower court censured the skinheads for breaching public order, adding that their behavior revealed “signs of hooliganism,” but decided not to sentence any of them.