Andelova, the regional state attorney in Ostrava, north Moravia, is the superior of Radim Obst, the Prerov district attorney who was in charge of the case of Cunek, head of the junior ruling Christian Democratic Union (KDU-CSL). At the court session today, Andelova described last year's three meetings she had with Supreme Court deputy chairman Pavel Kucera and former justice minister Pavel Nemec, who was an aide of PM Mirek Topolanek at the time, and said that pressure had been exerted on her. At the second meeting on February 28, 2007, which was also attended by Supreme State Attorney Renata Vesecka, Andelova felt pressure Kucera exerted on her to make her protract the handling of Czech opposition CSSD wants to test clerks for bribery ...
Czech press survey ... Cunek's case, she said today. At the third meeting Andelova allegedly told her partners "jokingly" that charges against Cunek would be brought soon, she said. Kucera reacted saying that "the independence of judiciary must give in to political interests," she added. She said the third meeting was also attended by Petr Coufal, the regional state attorney in Brno, south Moravia. Also present in the court today, Coufal denied Kucera having uttered the above words.
On the contrary, he said he had heard Andelova make unflattering utterances about Cunek. The political opposition and many observers were surprised when Vesecka took the Cunek's case away from Obst last spring and transferred it to a south Moravian district attorney, Arif Salichov, who subsequently halted Cunek's prosecution. In the proceedings today, the court dealt with the suit that Vesecka and other high-ranking judiciary officials had brought against Marie Benesova, the opposition shadow justice minister, for the statements she had made in connection with the Cunek case. In an interview for Czech Radio last December, Benesova labelled judiciary officials "backstage mafia" that is trying to influence the handling of criminal cases behind the scene in favour of the government.
(Ceske Noviny)
more info >>
<< Back