CZECH TELEGRAPH

Last Week in News

29. 3. 2010

DNA Samples Taken from Prisoners Illegally

A court in Prague has found that the Ministry of the Interior acted illegally when it took DNA samples from thousands of prisoners in 2007. The case in question was brought by a convicted murderer, who was also filing for 300,000 crowns in non-material damages. The Circuit Court of Prague 7 denied the plaintiff compensation, noting that he had once given a DNA sample to the police voluntarily, but cited clear misconduct on the part of the Interior Ministry and the police in requiring and storing the samples. 16,000 DNA samples were taken from prisoners convicted of wilful criminal acts in order to expand the National DNA Database used by crime investigators. The Ministry of the Interior maintains that the practice is in accordance with the law and will appeal the decision.

Prime Minister Fischer Complains to German Chancellor

The Czech prime minister asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel to do something to stop the exceedingly thorough road checks to which Czech drivers are exposed in accross the border. Many Czech drivers have filed complaints against Bavarian police for the abuses, claiming that Czechs are singled out and treated in a highly disrespectful manner. German authorities have earlier dismissed complaints by Czech politicians alleging there was a drop in crime statistics in their country after the controls started.

Disarmament Treaty Signature in Prague

US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev will sign a landmark arms-control treaty to slash their countries' nuclear arsenals by a third to roughly 1,500 on each side on April 8 in Prague. The new document will specifically mention a link between the offensive and defensive weapons. However, the new START pact will not prevent Washington from further developing its missile defense system. Obama had outlined his vision of a world free of nuclear weapons in a speech in front of the Prague Castle last year.

Elderly Former Communist Prosecutor's Sentence Reduced

Czech courts have decided to cut down to three years the previous sentence of six years of prison for 88-year-old Ludmila Brožová-Polednová, who was imprisoned in 2009 for the judicial murder at the Stalinist show trial of politician Milada Horáková in 1950. She can request parole one year from now, for a third of her sentence will have been served. She is the oldest prisoner in Czech Republic.

Controversial Opencard

Prague representatives decided to continue with the controversial OpenCard, an electronic card originally expected to be widely used to acquire public transportation tickets, besides a series of other city-related fees and payments. The current travel pass system is to disappear until the end of the year and a subsidiary of the city transport company is to be created to manage it. A series of audits carried out over the Opencard contracts and deals with the Prague city government revealed many problems, adding to the suspiciously high cost (800 million Czech crowns). To avoid this and other pre-election debates that could damage the center right Civic Democrats (ODS), Prague mayor Pavel Bém and City representatives scheduled a long hiatus in plenary sessions, coming back only in June. Opposition leaders protested that it is unimaginable for an European capital to not have anything to decide for more than 2 months. Some organizations complain that grants will not be approved on time because of the odd measure.

Senate Rejected Maternity Benefits Raise

The Czech Upper House rejected a motion by the Christian Democrats (KDU) to raise maternity benefits to the levels of 2009 and to restore insurance payments for the first 3 days of sick leave. The interm government of Jan Fischer lowered maternity benefits by 10%, besides abolishing payments for the first 3 days of sick leave last January as part of the cost cutting measures adopted to lower the state budget deficit.The amendment could increase the state budget deficit by another 2 billion Czk. However, the motion now will return to the Lower House of Parliament and there it is expected to pass with the votes from Social Democrats(ČSSD), Christian Democrats (KDU) and Communists (KSČM).

EU Commission Questions Czech Public Finances

The European Commission raised doubts about the long-term sustainability of Czech public finances and criticized the lack of measures to lower the state budget deficit below the 3 percent of the gross domestic product as is conditioned for the adoption of the euro. The commission recommended the Czech government to outline a budget strategy for 2011 and 2012 with concrete measures to lower the deficit.

Car Producer Škoda Auto Profit Falls

Net profit at the Czech Republic's national pride, Škoda Auto, fell by 68% to 3.46 billion Czech crowns in 2009. Turnover at the Volkswagen Group car maker, which owns Škoda, dropped by 6.2% to 188 billion Czk. 684,200 cars have been deliverelast year. Germany, the biggest market for the cars produced in Czech Republic, saw a rise of 44 percent to 162,000 in cars delivered. Škoda sales in China doubled to almost 123,000 cars.

Czech Republic Supports EU Loans to Greece

Prime Minister Jan Fischer is for the creation of a mechanism that would ensure loans to economically troubled Greece from the individual EU countries. Fischer also insisted that the Czech Republic, like every other EU countries that have not adopted the euro, wants to be consulted on any decision made on the Greece problem.

Czech government-issued bonds are among the safest in the world

In a comparison of costs of insurance against possible state defaults compiled by the Bloomberg news agency, Czech state bonds appear on 8th place in a list topped by Norway, with Greece in the lowest position. Czech finance minister, Eduard Janota, the Czech Republic this year needs to borrow about 10 billion euros.

Czech Republic Allies with Armenia

Czech Defense Minister Martin Bartak went on an official visit to Armenia to meet their Defense Minister, Seyran Ohanyan, with whom he signed a bilateral military cooperation agreement. The Czech Defense Minister noted the cooperation is not limited to a bilateral format, allowing cooperation with other countries at the same time.

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