Former Czech PM views holiday at Berlusconi's as mistake

During the holiday, an Italian photographer cameraman made photos of nude Topolanek who was then Czech PM. The Spanish daily El Pais published the photos on Friday, on the first day of elections to the European Parliament in the Czech Republic.

"I consider last year's spoilt holiday when tabloids from the Czech Republic followed us and actually prevented us from leaving the villa at all my big mistake," Topolanek said.

"I will never again accept an offer of any politician to spend my holiday in full privacy under the watch of the Carabinieri," he said.

Topolanek said again the photograph featuring him nude was a photomontage.

On Friday he said the entire scandal could be part of the left-wing campaign before the European elections.

However, the ODS won a convincing victory in the elections, gaining nine seats in the EP out of 22 designed for the Czech Republic.

El Pais published five photos out of a series of several hundred. The photographs that have been seized by the Italian law enforcement bodies were made during private events at Berlusconi's villa in Sardinia.

Apart from Berlusconi's face, all other faces on the photographs are smeared.

Topolanek admitted that a nude man on one of the photos was him.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz