Domestic Violence in Czech Republic

5. 4. 2010

A journalist from leftist daily Právo, Petr Kozelka, published an article in their news site (with search portal Seznam.cz) Novinky.cz, which proved with its content and rethorics how worthless is the life of married women in Czech Republic. Better not to say anything about the lack of empathy towards their suffering...

Kozelka defines a case of brutal domestic violence, which ended up with the woman's defenestration, as a "wild skirmish", which led to the "end of that marriage". He cites an act of domestic violence as a way how to "solve marital disagreements", among other, certainly friendlier techniques, like a little slapping -- which is supposed to settle a fight.

The whole article is built in a way that gives us the impression of an escalation in the those fights -- an exchange of opinions in which both sides played similar roles. But that goes against the facts, which Kozelka himself presents -- the wife didn't want to enter home, the husband later locked her up in the apartment, she went hide in their bedroom, but he broke the door to get inside.

Here Kozelka twice minimalizes the judgment of a criminal during the moment of committing a violent act, for he emphasizes that he was "destitute of his senses" and that he acted under a "fit of wrath".

At the same time it is evident that the agressor activelly cleared up complicated obstacles (the door), so that he could practice the act of violence in his wife, which doesn't help his interpretation of spontaneous impulse, although I understand why the eventual "spontaneity" of a violent act against his partner should be an excuse. It is obvious that men who commit brutal violence against their wives get from Czech journalists an unusual understanding.

Czech victims of such acts can only keep dreaming about a more complex approach from the local media over their tragic plight.

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