Ombudsman Otakar Motejl Has Died

10. 5. 2010

Czech Ombudsman and former Minister of Justice Otakar Motejl, known for having defended the former communist regime dissidents, has died Sunday at the age of 77.

Motejl died in Brno following a brief unspecified illness. Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer said Motejl - who was considered a possible presidential candidate - was a man who always "under any circumstances and regardless of the ruling regime effectively defended the rights of the weak."

Motejl chaired the Czech Republic's Supreme Court and was regarded as a moral paragon. Cases investigated by his office included that of Roma women who complained of being sterilized without informed consent, which he condemned. He was at various times in conflict with president Václav Klaus' positions, but always kept an institutional distance.

Motejl created the office of the ombudsman. At the time the institution was being designed, political scientists warned him that a great deal would rest primarily on the personality of the ombudsman.

Otakar Motejl was born on 10 September 1932. He graduated from the Law Faculty of Charles University. In the autumn of 1968 he became a Supreme Court judge. After leaving office in 1970 he devoted himself to the practice of law. After November 1989 Motejl was a member of the Czechoslovak Federal Assembly's oversight commission for the investigation into the events of 17 November.

"The death of Otakar Motejl has very much affected Václav Havel. Mr Havel always considered him a courageous man who never faltered and served justice his entire life," Sabina Tančevová, assistant to the former president, told the Czech Press Agency.

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Obsah vydání | Pondělí 2.8. 2010