For staunch opponents of communism in the Czech Republic, it's the happy end to a very long story. After the country's so-called Velvet Revolution, which started in 1989 and led to end of the communist regime there, opponents of the ideology demanded that communists be treated the same as German Nazis had been. More than 30 years later, their demands have finally been met.

In late July, Czech President Petr Pavel signed an amendment to his country's criminal code that criminalizes the promotion of communist ideology, placing it on the same footing as Nazi propaganda. The amendment will enter into force on January 1, 2026.

The movement to amend the law was first initiated by Martin Mejstrik, formerly a leader of the student protests during the Velvet Revolution and later a Czech senator. Historians from the Czech Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, or the USTR, also joined the initiative and this spring, the amendment passed through the Czech political system, supported by Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala's pro-European coalition government. President Pavel's signature in July finalized the process.

The amendment of section 403 of the Czech criminal code now allots a jail sentence of one........

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