The Constitutional Court of Czechia (ÚS) must review whether stricter rules for Russians applying for citizenship violate the Constitution.
A total of 17 senators have called on the court to cancel part of a law called Lex Ukraine VII, which notes that Russians cannot obtain citizenship in Czechia unless they prove they are no longer Russian citizens, Schengen.News reports.
The senators believe the measure unfairly targets all Russians regardless of their position or loyalty to the regime. The proposal has been published on the court’s website.
According to the senators, the legislation is unfair and doesn’t work well. According to them, the law will mostly hurt people who left Russia to escape repression or avoid joining the war.
These persons, who can be assumed to have a higher loyalty to the values on which Czech statehood and constitutionality are based, will not be able to become Czech citizens, because they will never receive a document from the Russian Federation renouncing their citizenship.
The Member of the Czech Senate, Michael Canov (SLK), said the law is discriminating against Russian citizens in acquiring Czech citizenship to be unconstitutional, according to Ceske Noviny.
Tightening of Rules for Russian Citizenship Applicants Aimed at Protecting Czechia’s Security
The law aims to protect Czechia’s security and foreign policy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In addition, it emphasised that all Russians applying for Czech citizenship are required to prove that they no longer have Russian citizenship.
Czech citizenship can be granted to “a natural person who was a citizen of the Russian Federation on the date of submitting an application for citizenship of the Czech Republic if he or she presents a document confirming the loss of citizenship of the Russian Federation.
The law does not apply to asylum seekers, people being considered for citizenship after they helped Czechia in important ways and children of Czech fathers.
The senators also said that Czechia has a powerful way to deal with potentially risky applications from Russia, even without the law.
Citizenship can be denied for security reasons, and if those reasons are classified, applicants won’t be told why and won’t be able to challenge the decision in court.
Czechia Calls for Schengen Movement Restrictions on Diplomats From Russia
Earlier this month, Czechia and Poland pushed to restrict the free movement of Russian diplomats within the Schengen Zone.
These calls to ban diplomats from Russia from reaching EU countries came amid concerns related to espionage and sabotage.