Deputies call military police raid on Czech Television inappropriate

Prague, March 22 (CTK) - The Czech Chamber of Deputies defence and security committee called the military police action at the public Czech Television (CT) "completely inappropriate" yesterday, committee chairman Frantisek Bublan (Social Democrats, CSSD) said.

The committee members at the same time agreed that they would wait for the results of the investigation into the circumstances of the police raid by the Defence Ministry's inspection. The committee will meet again then to get acquainted with the results, Bublan added.

Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra (senior government Civic Democrats, ODS) also attended the committee's meeting yesterday.

He previously criticised the military policemen's raid on CT.

"It was completely inappropriate, useless and unprofessional. The failure of several individuals throws a shadow on the whole organisation," Vondra told reporters after the defence committee meeting yesterday.

On March 11, about ten military police officers, masked and with automatic rifles, stormed the CT's news building in search of the military intelligence's (VZ) file that is linked to the controversial departure of former VZ head Miroslav Krejcik a few years ago and that reporter Karel Rozanek presented in CT newscasts some time ago.

Last week, the military police inspection revealed shortcomings in the police action at CT seat.

"The action was legal but mistakes were made in the way it was carried out," Vondra explained.

Bublan yesterday expressed surprise at the fact that Vondra did not take Vladimir Lozek, who headed the military police then, to the committee meeting.

Vondra temporarily suspended Lozek shortly after the action.

The military police have already returned the seized documents and other items to CT reporters.

According to the state attorney dealing with the case, the police made mistakes during the action.

Jiri Neubauer, assigned to head the military police, also admitted mistakes and suspended Pavel Marecek who commanded the action.

The military police inspection has found out that the policemen did not follow valid regulations as they did not sufficiently inform their superiors, including Vondra, about the action, they misjudged the security situation in the CT building and chose wrong tactics.