The changes come following calls from some Czech institutions, including the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, to correct what they said was an imbalance in the legal system. The president of the Czech Republic has signed an amendment to the criminal code that criminalises the promotion of communist propaganda, putting it on a similar level to Nazi ideology.

The revised legislation signed by Petr Pavel allows judges to hand down prison sentences of up to five years for anyone who “establishes, supports or promotes Nazi, communist, or other movements which demonstrably aim to suppress human rights and freedoms or incite racial, ethnic, national, religious or class-based hatred.”

The changes follow calls from some Czech institutions, including the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, to correct what they described as an imbalance in the legal system.

But the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM), which is led by MEP Kateřina Konečná, condemned the move as politically motivated.

“This is yet another failed attempt to push KSČM outside the law and intimidate critics of the current regime,” the party said in a statement.

It’s not clear yet how the new law could be applied to legitimate political parties like KSČM.

The party currently holds no seats in parliament, but recent polls put its “Stačilo” (Enough) alliance at 5%, which would be enough to see it return to the lower house in October’s elections.

The Czech Republic was part of the former Czechoslovakia and in post-WWII Europe came under the umbrella of the Soviet Union.

It was led by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) until the 1989 Velvet Revolution brought an end to 41 years of one-party rule and ushered in a transition to a parliamentary republic.

At the last election in 2021, the KSČM failed to win more than 5% of the vote, meaning the Czech parliament had no Communist delegates for the first time since 1920.