Amnesty International Report 2002 - Czech Republic
| Publisher | Amnesty International |
| Publication Date | 28 May 2002 |
| Cite as | Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 2002 - Czech Republic , 28 May 2002, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3cf4bc1010.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Czech Republic
Head of state: Václav Havel
Head of government: Milos Zeman
Capital: Prague
Population: 10.3 million
Official language: Czech
Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes
2001 treaty ratifications/signatures: Optional Protocol to the UN Women's Convention; Optional Protocol to the UN Children's Convention on the involvement of children in armed conflict
The authorities failed to conduct thorough and impartial investigations into reported cases of arbitrary detention and police ill-treatment. Roma who were subjected to racist violence were frequently inadequately protected by police officers.
Inadequate investigations
Investigations continued into reports that dozens of people suspected of involvement in anti-globalization demonstrations in Prague on 26 and 27 September 2000 had been arbitrarily detained and ill-treated by police. Investigations into complaints of criminal behaviour by police officers were carried out by the Inspectorate of the Ministry of the Interior. There were concerns that the investigations could not be considered independent and impartial as both those conducting investigations and those being investigated were under the control of the same authority – the Ministry of the Interior.
- The Environmental Law Service, a non-governmental human rights organization based in Brno, filed 27 criminal complaints on behalf of victims of human rights abuses. The Inspectorate of the Ministry of the Interior decided to investigate only three cases of police ill-treatment. All other complaints were referred to the Department of Inspection and Complaints of the Police Presidium which investigates alleged misdemeanours by officers. The Department failed to establish that any police officer was responsible for a misdemeanour in connection with the September demonstrations.
The conduct of the Inspectorate in these investigations was consistent with its persistent failure to promptly and impartially investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment in previous years. The failure to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations contributed to an atmosphere in which police officers felt they could commit abuses with impunity.
In May the UN Committee against Torture recommended that the Czech authorities "ensure the independence and thoroughness of investigations of all allegations of ill-treatment in general, and in connection with the IMF/World Bank meeting in September 2000 in particular, and to provide the Committee in its next periodic report with information on the findings and measures taken, including prosecutions and compensation to victims, as appropriate".
In July, the UN Human Rights Committee, reviewing the Czech Republic's compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, concluded, among other things, that the current system of investigating complaints against the police "lacks objectivity and credibility and would seem to facilitate impunity for police involved in human rights violations".
Roma
There were numerous reports that the police failed to protect Roma from attack or to effectively investigate violent assaults against them. Where prosecutions did take place, the courts tended to convict those responsible for racist attacks of lesser offences.
- In April a group of about 45 skinheads reportedly attacked a group of some 20 Romani men with baseball bats in a bar in Novy Bor in the north of the country. The group of mainly Czech and German youths were celebrating the anniversary of Hitler's birth. Although eight Roma were said to have been injured in the attack, according to reports no one had been charged with any criminal offence by the end of the year.
- Ota Absolon, a 30-year-old man of Romani origin, was stabbed to death in July in Svitavy, East Bohemia. The young man charged with this attack had a long record of previous convictions for violent crimes. He had, for example, been given a suspended sentence in 1997 for stabbing another Romani man in the stomach. Apparently that offence had not been considered by the court to be a racially motivated attack, which would have carried a stiffer penalty. More recently he had been convicted of another violent crime. The judge allowed him to remain at liberty pending the outcome of his appeal against this most recent conviction, reportedly because he considered that the young man would not commit any further offences.
AI country reports/visits
Report
- Czech Republic: Arbitrary detention and police ill-treatment following September 2000 protests (AI Index: EUR 71/001/2001)
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