Once a rising star of the Czech political scene and hailed as a sign of diversity, the rape cases of former MP Dominik Feri involving young women shocked the country in 2021. Now, Feri has been released after serving two years in prison, but his legal troubles may not be entirely over.
The Teplice District Court granted the conditional release of former TOP 09 MP Feri, allowing him to walk free from Teplice prison. The decision follows a successful appeal to the Ústí nad Labem Regional Court, which had previously overturned a lower court’s refusal to grant him parole.
The release was made against the protests from the deputy representative of the victims, who strongly opposed Feri’s release, citing the ongoing trauma of the women involved, according to Czech news outlet SZ.
“They are afraid that he will continue to hurt them, mainly through social networks,” said lawyer Adéla Hořejší, who represents the victims.
Feri, who entered prison at the end of May 2024 to serve a three-year sentence for two rapes and one attempted rape, was released with the consent of both the state prosecutor and a prison psychologist. The psychologist evaluated Feri’s personality as balanced and determined that he poses no danger to society.
The three rape cases
In 2016, as a law student, Feri groped a 17-year-old girl in his Prague apartment and demanded sex. The victim subsequently lost consciousness for unknown reasons, during which Feri had sex with her. In a separate incident that same year, Feri threw a 20-year-old woman onto a bed, pulled down her pants, and forced sexual intercourse despite her explicit refusal.
At a February 2018 event while working as an MP, a young woman seeking an internship met Feri at the Chamber of Deputies. Feri proceeded to grope and attempt to kiss her inside a building elevator and the Chamber kitchen.
Throughout his trial, Feri maintained that the encounters were consensual and accused the victims of fabrication. The judiciary firmly rejected his defense. Libor Vávra, chairman of the Prague Municipal Court’s senate during the appeal, emphasized that the former lawmaker deliberately abused his authority, alongside the vulnerability and defenselessness of the young women.
Rising political star
The former politician was once named eighth out of 28 politicians in Politico’s Class of 2019, but the details of the various rape cases scuttled his political career.
As Remix News previously reported, Feri had over 700,000 followers on Instagram at one time, and in 2016, he described himself as “crown sunshine man” in the media and supported the admission of refugees to Czechia. However, at the time, he insisted he would offer no compromises toward refugees who come to Czechia and are found guilty of rape.
Politico gushed over Feri in 2019, naming him a “dreamer” and one of the “28 people who will shape Europe in the year ahead,” with the publication writing: “Feri isn’t just the youngest parliamentarian in the country’s history. He’s the first black one — and conspicuously so. He wears his hair in a bushy afro and enjoys playing Fats Waller-style jazz piano in local clubs.”
Politico also wrote about the alleged troubles he faced as a Black Czech politician, writing: “It’s not easy being young and black in the Czech Republic, where the number of residents of African descent remains minuscule and racial intolerance is widespread.”
Feri also told Politico that he faces “constant mockery and threats by some people. Or, even worse, many people won’t even take you seriously.”
Feri says he learned his lesson
When addressing the court, Feri stated that considerable time had passed since his actions and that his priorities have changed. He expressed a desire to focus on starting a family rather than pursuing random encounters.
“Lessons from punishment were essential,“ he said. However, during the actual trial, Feri was known for his combative defense and lack of remorse, according to the judge at the time.
Feri, a trained lawyer holding a JUDr. degree, built his defense on the assertion that all sexual encounters in his Žižkov apartment were entirely consensual and devoid of violence. He routinely disputed the consistency of the victims’ statements, noting minor discrepancies in their descriptions of his apartment layout and the Chamber of Deputies’ kitchen, where he assaulted a congressional intern. Feri went as far as to argue that one victim was in “synergistic contact” with him and publicly questioned the state’s case:
“Where was the violence I supposedly used?“ Feri asked two years ago during his speech before the court.
Throughout the legal proceedings, the prosecution criticized Feri’s treatment of the victims, which included exposing the name of one witness and laughing loudly from an adjoining room while another testified.
“He laughed so loudly that it could be heard in the courtroom. Two victims mentioned this as a significantly unpleasant circumstance during their testimony. The defendant has the right to a defense, but not in such a blunt and insensitive way,” stated Judge Lenka Hájková of the District Court for Prague 3, who found Feri guilty along with two other colleagues.
Prosecutor Aleš Cimbala condemned these actions before the sentencing court:
“If he explained it with indiscretion from his youth. But we don’t see any self-reflection here, no reaction to the fact that the criminal proceedings had any educational effects,“ said Cimbala, labeling Feri’s courtroom behavior as a “manifestation of theatrical demeanor.”
Feri additionally claimed that the victims were lying to avenge unrequited love:
“They lie repeatedly and intentionally, even in court, all with a straight face,” claimed Feri at the time.
The appeals panel, led by Prague Municipal Court Senate President Libor Vávra, systematically rejected Feri’s defense strategy. The court validated the credibility of the victims, noting that expert opinions confirmed they suffered severe psychological trauma and had confided in loved ones immediately following the assaults.
Further legal problems
Despite his release from the primary three-year sentence, Feri recently faced a separate trial at the District Court for Prague 3 regarding a 2015 incident. A woman alleged that when she was 17, Feri removed his condom during consensual intercourse without her permission – an act commonly referred to as “stealthing.”
The case was initially closed by police, but the Constitutional Court intervened, ruling that non-consensual condom removal could be legally classified as rape. However, the District Court for Prague 3 acquitted Feri in this matter, ruling that the actions described in the indictment did not constitute a criminal offense. The judgment is not final and the prosecutor may still appeal the case.
Feri has consistently maintained his innocence regarding this second allegation:
“I am announcing that the accusation is not based on the truth. I feel innocent,“ Feri said in court.
Feri entered the Czech political landscape in 2014 as an 18-year-old student running for TOP 09 in the Teplice municipal elections. He quickly ascended to become a city representative, a municipal councilor, and eventually an MP.
His political career collapsed in May 2021 when investigative reports by Deník N and A2larm published the compiled testimonies of multiple women alleging sexual assault. Following the expose, Feri resigned his parliamentary seat and withdrew from the upcoming legislative elections.
