President Klaus's amnesty is anti-constitutional - Prague court

There is the alternative of at least deleting the clause halting some criminal prosecutions, said, according to the proposal, CTK has found at the US web page.

The amnesty's main fault is that, according to available information, it was not discussed by the government beforehand, the court said.

The amnesty was only countersigned by Prime Minister Petr Necas, which is a condition of its validity.

Within the general amnesty, Klaus ordered that all criminal proceedings lasting for over eight years and carrying less than ten years in prison be halted.

The decision has caused a public outcry as the prosecution of a number of fraud cases with the damage of billions of crowns falls under the amnesty.

The proposal, written by Prague judge Kamil Kydalka, stresses that the whole of the government shoulders responsibility for Necas's signature.

"As the prime minister's signature obliges the whole government, it is right to demand a discussion of such an affair at a government meeting, although, for understandable reasons, the information on such a meeting need not be public before the amnesty is declared," Kydalka wrote.

US chairman Pavel Rychetsky recently criticised the fact that the amnesty evidently had not been discussed by the government beforehand.

He said Klaus and Necas had not observed established habits.

On Tuesday, the US received the Prague Municipal Court's proposal against the passage halting some criminal prosecutions, head of the US protocol Vlastimil Goettinger told CTK today.

Jan Musil will be the judge-rapporteur to deal with the proposal, he added.

Besides, 30 senators have asked the US to cancel that part of the amnesty that halts the criminal prosecutions in question.

Before submitting its complaint with the US, the Prague Municipal Court suspended the investigation into the case of Frantisek Chvalovsky, former head of the CMFS national football association, over credit frauds causing the damage of hundreds of million crowns.

Or else, it would probably have to declare that the case falls under the amnesty. Now the court will wait with the decision for the US verdict.

At the beginning of January, activist Phillip Janyr also lodged a complaint with the US. He wants the amnesty to be abolished on the grounds that it is in discrepancy with the fundaments of a democratic state with the rule of law.

($1 = 19.231 crowns)

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz