In April 2015, Police of the Czech Republic commenced an operation against the anarchist, anti-authoritarian and animal liberation movement. This operation is known and called Operation Fenix (Phoenix). During the initial stage many individuals have been questioned and interrogated, some arrested and several places raided. Police confiscated servers, computers, flash drives, cameras, mobile phones and other digital devices or data carriers. So far we do not know to what extend the operation goes and how many people are being monitored and what the intentions of the police are. On a number of occasions the police fabricated or purposely concealed important facts in order to obtain permission to search different properties and arrest people. Read more here.
Fenix 1 Case
From the original 11 detainees, three individuals remained in custody where they await trial. Petr and Martin are accused of “conspiracy to plan a terrorist attack” and Ales with the offense for illegal arms possession. Two additional people were accused of knowing about such plans and not having stopped the presumed authors. Two of these five people were also accused of preparing an attack with Molotov cocktails on police cars during the eviction of the Cibulka squat (all this is just for Fenix 1, because some of these people are facing further accusations in the context of Fenix 2).
The entire “action” to attack the train, which the police claimed to prevent by arresting Petr, Martin and two other people (currently investigated without detention), was scheduled and co-planned by (at least) two undercover operatives. Specifically trained undercover police officers infiltrated a group of people and gained their trust to obtain information. After a while, when surveillance of their new “friends” was established, they began to talk more about the necessity of actions more militant in nature and they actively participated in the preparation of such a plan. In October 2017, all 5 defendants were acquitted due to lack of sufficient evidence.
Fenix 2 Case
The Fenix 2 case was originally against Lukáš Borl. One of the charges brought against Lukáš is establishing, supporting and spreading a movement leading to suppressing human rights and freedoms. However, the police would have kind of a hard time to prove existence of a group where there is only one person charged. So the police shifted up a gear and came up with a plan. Into Fenix 2 were added four more people. On June 9th the police launched a prosecution against 3 anarchists and one environmental firebrand, all charged with 16 felonies in total.