Amnestie Václava Klause již po šesté
The Anticorruption Endowment (NFPK) has released the sixth part of a study containing basic facts and quotes from the rulings of selected courts and public prosecutors, concerning the application of Article II of the amnesty declared by Václav Klaus in 2013. This part highlights the rulings passed by the Office of the High Public Prosecutor and High Court in Olomouc.
Of a total of 28 rulings, issued by the High Court in Olomouc in respect of the relevant Amnesty article, 25 cases addressed complaints lodged by public prosecutors. They would not reconcile themselves to see the prosecution of defendants halted and filed complaints against regional court rulings to the High Court.
Various arguments were used in an attempt to reverse rulings passed by the regional courts. Thus, in regard of the criminal acts committed, public prosecutors protested the violation of several articles of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. Some argued that in their opinion the amnesty was declared in breach of the Constitution (subsequently not upheld by the Constitutional Court). They also cited the logical requirement that the total length of criminal proceedings must be diminished by the time for which the subject was prosecuted as a fugitive. Reason enough, but it did not come off naturally. Some even analysed, with all due sincerity, what exactly Václav Klaus meant, in Article II, by saying “with the exception of criminal proceedings held against a fugitive” and whether he really wanted to say fugitive in general ever in the past… Sterling efforts were invested into analyzing if he meant crime in progress or a continuing crime (please to discern the difference). In short, public prosecutors and judges fought for every little word, but the former lost the battle in most cases and the prosecuted subjects walked free. The rulings are redolent with attempts to judiciously “hold the ground” delineated by legislative provisions. One gets the impression of reading a doctoral paper: scholars love to mutually pat themselves on the shoulder, how learned and unique they are. Common sense has gone fishing…
In the remaining three resolutions, the High Court in Olomouc acted in the capacity of court of appeals, until its proceedings were stopped by amnesty. Damage done in these three cases alone exceeded 494 million crowns.
It should be noted that as indicated by the rulings, obtained from the regional and high courts and public prosecutors nationwide, the defendants whose prosecution was halted were thought to have caused damages amounting to at least 18.6 billion crowns, with additional damages to the tune of at least 3.4 billion crowns being averted. Damages were said to have been incurred on over 90,000 natural persons and hundreds of legal entities.
We must add, in conclusion, that the Anticorruption Endowment Board of Directors decided to release the full names of the prosecuted and amnestied persons wherever they could be asserted after the fact.
The Anticorruption Endowment is a fully independent initiative by people radically unprepared to accept a high level of corruption in state administration. One of our goals is to help expose corruption in state administration and support projects exposing corruption.
Attachments – Ruling on criminal proceedings stay under Article II of President Václav Klaus’s decree on amnesty from 1 January 2013:
Contacts please: Martin Soukenka, NFPK Analyst, e-mail: martin.soukenka@nfpk.cz
