Prague, Dec 23 (CTK) – Hackers attacked the Twitter account of Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) yesterday, posting anti-migrant tweets on it, and he regained control of the account after seven hours at 17:00, he announced on Twitter.
Government spokesman Martin Ayrer told CTK that the Government Office has filed a criminal complaint over the attack.
“I wish you a nice evening from Ostrava (north Moravia). The hacker attack has been eliminated, I am in control of my Twitter account again. Thank you everybody for support,” Sobotka tweeted in the afternoon.
The false tweets calling for fighting refugees and labelling refugees an invasive army, started to appear on Sobotka´s Twitter account at around 10:00.
The messages included references to articles and videos inciting fears of refugees and hatred towards them.
No one has officially claimed responsibility for the attacks for now.
The false tweets referred to White media, a nationalist website whose authors boasted of similar hacker attacks in the past. They also referred to the web page of the Czech National Home Guard organisation, which, however, has dissociated itself from the attack on Facebook.
“The statements published [on the account] have nothing to do with either the views of policies of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka or the Czech government,” Ayrer said when the attack started.
“The Government Office has lodged a criminal complaint against an unknown offender over an attack on the Twitter account of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka,” Ayrer said.
Earlier yesterday, Sobotka wrote to CTK that the neo-Nazis´ attack only proved that he was doing his work well. He wished a merry Christmas to all people of goodwill who reject the spreading of hatred, prefer humanity and support democracy.
The perpetrators posted tweets about democratic elites devastating Europe on Sobotka’s account. They also called on the users to join the National Revolutionary Paramilitary Units and fight against the refugees who bring terrorism.
More than ten new tweets appeared on Sobotka’s account.
“Democratic elites are devastating Europe. There is no other possibility but to raise arms, build a guillotine and take the law into our own hands!” said the first false tweet that was posted at 10:13.
A few minutes before, Sobotka tweeted about the ammunition removal from the dumps in Vrbetice, south Moravia, which he attended.
Another tweet written by the hackers referred to a video recording entitled “Rape Wave Came to Germany with Refugees.” Other tweets called for the fight against refugees and sharply criticise the government.
The hackers also distorted Sobotka´s name in an abusive manner and called him a traitor
“Refugees are an invading army! The few women among them are only the mothers of future terrorists. All who are helping them should be guillotined,” another tweet said.
Sobotka has repeatedly warned of the hatred towards migrants that is spreading in Czech society. At the same time, he admits the risks of uncontrolled migration and promotes the necessity to protect the Schengen outer border.
He has also met volunteers helping refugees at border crossings.
Sobotka´s Twitter account is followed by more than 8,500 people and journalists often use it, too. Most of his tweets concern his working programme. He posts his personal comments only rarely.
The number of the account´s followers has risen by more than 100 in the past few hours of the account being out of Sobotka´s control.
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