Twenty-three-year-old Hard Rico, whose real name is Enrico Pešta, was not convicted alone, because he committed the crimes in an organized group. In addition to him, his two accomplices, Karel Meca and Miroslav Cihi, also heard the verdict on Wednesday, who also received an unconditional prison sentence, but for five years. The rapper’s 20-year-old girlfriend Laura Červeňáková is also to go to prison for three years.
All four confessed to the crime before the court, but the fifth defendant denied the guilt. His participation in the crime will be dealt with separately by the court.
The judgment is not final yet, because the defendants and the plaintiff have kept a period to think about whether they will appeal or not. State representative Michal Król told Novinkám that he does not rule out an appeal.
“I am glad that the court imposed unconditional sentences on all the defendants. However, I kept the deadline for appeal, because, for example, I proposed a six-year sentence for Enrico Pesta, and now his sentence is even lower than that of his two accomplices,” the prosecutor explained, adding that he proposed a fine of one million crowns for Pesta. “So here again his punishment from the court is more severe,” he stated.
Photo: Denisa Doležalová, Fairpress
Ostrava rapper Hard Rico before the hearing at the Ostrava regional court.
According to the indictment, the Ostrava rapper was the main organizer of the crime. Hard Rico promised the media before the start of the trial that he would comment only after the verdict, but in the end he did not keep his promise and ran away from the journalists.
It follows from the indictment that last March he demanded two million crowns after his well-known release. The victim was lured to the apartment by Pešt’s girlfriend, where together they forced him to hand over 100,000 crowns using violence and threats. But they demanded that he deliver another two million. If he didn’t deliver them within a week, they threatened him that they would make him disappear in the forest. They also threatened the family of the victim. Specifically, according to the indictment, Hard Rico threatened to stab him in the neck with a knife.
At the same time, the case of alleged robbery and extortion is not the only criminal proceeding that the justice system conducts against Pest. The district court in Ostrava is also dealing with a case of alleged fraud, when Pešta and another man were supposed to lure 200 thousand crowns from a gullible woman. In this case, the rapper denies guilt.
In the past, the rapper was convicted of damaging another’s property. In August 2024, together with other people, he sprayed a van parked in the parking lot on Místecká Street in Ostrava, while photographing and filming an advertising campaign aimed at promoting textile products. Pest defended himself by saying that he thought it was a wreck. The court finally fined him 36,000 crowns.
