Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blažek (ODS) has demanded the names of judges who ruled on detention or searches in the Brno housing case, according to the server Seznam Zprávy. Blažek did not explain to the server why he needed the judges’ identities. He did not say whether it had anything to do with his power to propose disciplinary proceedings against any judge, the website reported. Blažek later tweeted that this was a normal legal procedure for handling complaints. The server had previously reported that Blažek had sent four requests for information to prosecutors in the past month regarding the housing case, in which Blažek’s acquaintances are involved, according to Seznam Zprávy.
Last autumn, police intervened in Brno several times over flats and municipal property. At the beginning of October, it charged eight people, led by ODS politician Otakar Bradáč, in connection with the privatisation of flats at the Brno-střed town hall. In mid-October, it arrested a group of people in connection with an attempt to take control of a sand plant in Černovice.
Blažek obtained from the Brno Municipal Court a list of four judges who approved searches and detentions in the case. Ales Dufek, deputy chairman of the Brno Municipal Court for the criminal section, told the server. He did not know the reason; in the 29 years he has been a judge, it has never happened to him that the ministry has asked for the names of judges who ruled in such a case. He gave the names because it was the minister’s request, he added. Libor Vávra, president of the Judges’ Union, also described Blažek’s request as unusual. “I have not encountered anyone asking for the names of judges who worked on the case. So I don’t know how I would proceed,” Vávra said.
One of the requests was sent by the ministry to the Brno court about a month ago, according to the server, just before the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office decided to cancel the prosecution of two women in the case. Blažek tweeted after Seznam Zprav’s publication of the information today that after the illegal prosecution was cancelled, it was appropriate to investigate whether the detention was also imposed illegally. “This is a normal legal procedure for dealing with complaints and the subject of the decision under review is not a member of ODS. And again – an inquiry is not an interference…,” he wrote. He added that other documents were collected last year for the purpose of drafting a disciplinary motion already filed against Judge Ales Dufek, which Blažek said did not relate to the case as such. “It will be the subject of a public hearing before the disciplinary chamber. Again, nothing unusual or cabinet…,” he noted.
Blažek filed the disciplinary action against Dufek at the end of last year, according to the Czech Justice server. The reason is that Dufek, in his capacity as the court’s authorised vice-president for the criminal section, provided the media with search warrants for three people involved in a case involving Brno municipal flats in early November. “The criminal proceedings are supposed to be closed until the court hearing. That is why I have filed a disciplinary action against the judge, who, in my opinion, violated this basic rule and thus not only damaged the rights of the parties and other persons, but may have also defeated the purpose of the criminal proceedings. This must not be normal,” Minister Blažek told the server.
According to the server, the anti-corruption organisation Transparency International (TI) interprets Blažek’s request to compile a list of judges as another effort by the minister to disrupt the investigation. It has previously called on him to resign because of previous pressure on prosecutors.
On Thursday, the Union of Prosecutors tweeted that the way the justice minister is seeking information in the Brno city flats buying case is unfortunate. It added its voice to a previous similar statement by the chief prosecutor, Igor Stříž, which was quoted by Seznam Zprávy and Deník N. According to Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS), Blažek acted in accordance with the minister’s duties when he asked for information from the case.
Source: Seznam Zprávy and CTK
