Borat-like prank on Czech foreign minister makes international headlines

Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka is facing questions over his personal security after activists lured him into an interview with a masked man in a room they say contained replica guns, a fake bomb, and several people hidden behind a curtain.

The elaborate stunt was organized by Czech activist group Detektivní Parta, which invited Macinka to meet a fictitious journalist named Thomas Paukner. The group says the experiment was intended to test the foreign minister's security awareness.

Macinka insists he realized who was behind the prank, but video released by the activists appears to show him treating the encounter as a genuine interview. Czech media report that the police unit responsible for protecting senior officials is examining the incident.

The unusual episode attracted international attention Friday after Agence France-Presse reported on the stunt, sending the story across the international newswire and into foreign media.

AFP described Macinka as facing criticism after allegedly being fooled by a fake journalist, highlighting claims that his security detail failed to inspect the room before the interview.

According to Detektivní Parta, Macinka arrived with one protection officer but sent him away shortly after entering. The activists said no security inspection had taken place beforehand and that replica firearms and a realistic-looking imitation explosive device had been placed around the studio.

Macinka disputes the suggestion that he was fooled. He said he recognized activist Vojtěch Pšenák beneath the balaclava, sunglasses and hood, arguing that someone would have to be "blind and deaf" not to identify him.

The activists reject that account, pointing to footage in which Macinka appears to interact normally with the disguised interviewer. Macinka has accepted responsibility for how the interview was conducted, saying Thursday that the accompanying police officer had been present and that the situation was not substantially different from many previous interviews.

Opposition Civic Democrat leader Martin Kupka called on Macinka to resign, citing his position as foreign minister and his access to classified intelligence. The police protection service has not publicly announced the outcome of its review.

Detektivní Parta, or "Detective Group," is an online activist project that produces undercover and investigative videos and publishes them on channels including YouTube. Its activities have included confronting alleged purveyors of disinformation, investigating animal abuse, and targeting suspected online child predators.

The group is chaired by controversial Czech entrepreneur and YouTuber Mike Oganesjan, who has repeatedly attracted media and police attention over his activist tactics. Pšenák, who played the fictitious interviewer, is another member of the group.

For the Macinka stunt, the activists created the Paukner identity and a dedicated website and email domain. They say the clues were intentionally easy to uncover and that Macinka himself proposed limiting the involvement of his security detail.

The group described the exercise as a test of Macinka's "security awareness and cognitive capacities," while making a series of highly critical claims about the minister's conduct.

Macinka maintains that he knew he was being pranked. Whatever his awareness of the activists' identities, however, the episode has shifted attention to a more serious question: how a senior Czech official ended up sitting without his protection officer in an unchecked room containing people and objects his security detail apparently did not know were there.