Former TOP 09 lawmaker Dominik Feri was released from prison after serving two years of a three-year sentence for two rapes and one attempted rape, while a separate case involving a 2015 allegation remains subject to possible appeal.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Former Czech lawmaker Dominik Feri, once promoted as one of the country’s most visible black political figures, has been conditionally released from prison after serving two years of a three-year sentence for two rapes and one attempted rape.
The Teplice District Court approved Feri’s release from Teplice prison after the Ústí nad Labem Regional Court overturned an earlier decision denying him parole, according to Seznam Zprávy. Feri, a former TOP 09 member of Parliament, entered prison at the end of May 2024 after his conviction in the sexual assault cases.
The decision was opposed by a lawyer representing the victims, who argued that the women continue to experience harm connected to the case.
“They are afraid that he will continue to hurt them, mainly through social networks,” said lawyer Adéla Hořejší, who represents the victims.
The conditional release was supported by the state prosecutor and a prison psychologist. The psychologist described Feri’s personality as balanced and concluded that he does not pose a danger to society. Feri had been serving a sentence for two rapes and one attempted rape.
The case drew national attention in 2021, when allegations from multiple women ended Feri’s political career. Before the accusations became public, Feri had been regarded as a rising figure in Czech politics. He entered public life in 2014 as an 18-year-old TOP 09 candidate in Teplice municipal elections and later became a city representative, municipal councilor and member of Parliament.
The convictions involved incidents from 2016 and 2018. In one 2016 case, Feri, then a law student, groped a 17-year-old girl at his Prague apartment and demanded sex. The victim later lost consciousness for reasons that were not determined, and Feri had sex with her while she was unconscious. In a separate 2016 incident, he threw a 20-year-old woman onto a bed, pulled down her pants and forced intercourse after she explicitly refused.
The attempted rape conviction stemmed from a February 2018 encounter at the Chamber of Deputies, where a young woman seeking an internship met Feri while he was serving as an MP. Feri groped her and attempted to kiss her in an elevator and in the Chamber kitchen.
Feri denied the allegations during the proceedings and maintained that the encounters were consensual. He also accused the victims of fabrication. Courts rejected that defense, with Prague Municipal Court Senate Chairman Libor Vávra finding that Feri abused his authority and took advantage of the vulnerability and defenselessness of young women.
The former lawmaker’s public profile had previously extended beyond Czechia. He was named eighth on Politico’s Class of 2019 list of 28 figures the publication said would shape Europe. Politico described him as a “dreamer” and wrote that “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 noted the racial hostility Feri said he faced in Czech politics, 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 told Politico that he faced “constant mockery and threats by some people. Or, even worse, many people won’t even take you seriously.”
Remix News reported that Feri once had more than 700,000 Instagram followers and had described himself in 2016 as “crown sunshine man.” He supported admitting refugees to Czechia but said at the time he would not compromise toward refugees found guilty of rape.
In court, Feri said the punishment had changed him and that he wanted a different future.
“Lessons from punishment were essential,“ he said.
He also told the court that time had passed since the actions at issue and that his priorities had shifted toward starting a family rather than pursuing random encounters.
During the trial, however, Feri’s conduct was sharply criticized. He held a JUDr. law degree and built his defense around the claim that sexual encounters at his Žižkov apartment were consensual and nonviolent. He challenged the victims’ testimony by pointing to small inconsistencies in descriptions of his apartment and the Chamber of Deputies kitchen.
“Where was the violence I supposedly used?“ Feri asked two years ago during a court speech.
Prosecutors also accused him of mistreating victims during the proceedings, including by exposing the name of one witness and laughing loudly from another room while a woman 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,” said Judge Lenka Hájková of the District Court for Prague 3, who found Feri guilty with two other judges.
Prosecutor Aleš Cimbala also criticized Feri’s conduct before sentencing.
“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,“ Cimbala said, describing Feri’s behavior as a “manifestation of theatrical demeanor.”
Feri also claimed the women were lying because of unrequited love.
“They lie repeatedly and intentionally, even in court, all with a straight face,” Feri said at the time.
The appeals court rejected that argument. Vávra’s panel found the victims credible and cited expert opinions showing severe psychological trauma. The court also noted that the women had confided in people close to them soon after the assaults.
Feri’s release does not fully close his legal exposure. He recently faced a separate case at the District Court for Prague 3 involving a 2015 allegation. A woman alleged that when she was 17, Feri removed his condom during consensual intercourse without her consent, an act commonly known as “stealthing.”
Police initially closed that case, but the Constitutional Court intervened and ruled that nonconsensual condom removal could be legally classified as rape. The District Court for Prague 3 later acquitted Feri, finding that the conduct described in the indictment did not amount to a criminal offense. The ruling is not final, and prosecutors may still appeal.
Feri denied wrongdoing in that case as well.
“I am announcing that the accusation is not based on the truth. I feel innocent,“ Feri said in court.
The allegations that ended Feri’s career were first compiled in investigative reports by Deník N and A2larm in May 2021. After the reports were published, Feri resigned his parliamentary seat and withdrew from the upcoming legislative elections. An X post also circulated in connection with the case.
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