Czech police on Thursday said they had charged far-right leader and lawmaker Tomio Okamura over European Union election posters they claim incited racial hatred.

A former entrepreneur and travel agency owner, the Tokyo-born Okamura chairs the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) movement with 20 lawmakers in the 200-seat parliament.

The party wants the Czech Republic to leave the European Union and NATO and takes aim at migrants from the Middle East and Africa flowing into Europe.

Okamura has been charged over 2024 EU election posters, one of which depicts a black man with a blood-stained knife, saying, “Imported ‘surgeons’ will not resolve our health sector’s shortcomings.”

“The criminal procedure with this person has started,” police spokesman Jan Danek told AFP, adding that Okamura was charged with “inciting hatred towards a group of citizens”.

Another poster showed two boys from the impoverished Roma minority smoking a cigarette and saying, “They say we should go to school but our parents don’t care.”

Czech media said the charges also concerned Okamura’s party.

The SPD said the charges infringed on freedom of speech and pointed out recent attacks by migrants committed in neighbouring Germany and Austria.

“The countries of western, southern and northern Europe cannot be considered safe any longer,” the SPD said on its website.

“The SPD stands firmly behind its chairman. We will not withdraw. They will not silence us!” it added.

The parliament stripped Okamura of his immunity as lawmaker last week, paving the way for the police to charge him.

If convicted, 52-year-old Okamura — who ran for Czech president in 2013 — faces up to three years in prison.