Pehe in Právo: Rath case's spectacular aspects at odds with justice

Prague, June 7 (CTK) - The spectacular treatment of David Rath, a deputy accused of bribery, by Czech authorities is embarrassing in view of the fact that justice usually tends to prevail "in conditions of adequate civilness," Jiri Pehe writes in daily Pravo Thursday.

Some believe that the mid-May arrest of a "big fish", then Central Bohemia regional governor for the senior opposition Social Democrats (CSSD), on suspicion of corruption will affect people as a kind of a lesson and catharsis, Pehe writes.

In the Czech Republic, a country with widespread corruption for which almost no one is ever punished, many view the Rath case as a possible turning point. People consider it a breakthrough although it was - rather surprisingly - Rath, an opposition politician whom the government camp hated the most of all - who was caught corrupt, while most of the recent corruption scandals and suspicions involved government politicians as protagonists, Pehe writes.

This alone makes many people believe that the Rath scandal is a result of the government camp's political attack on him. Rath himself nourished this conspiratory theory in his speech in the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday, Pehe writes.

Those who consider the case a plot that "those in power" staged to eliminate a burdensome opposition politician, probably will stick to their conviction that it is nothing but the continuation of "dirty policy" using "different" means, Pehe writes.

A larger part of the public, nevertheless, rejects the black-and-white theory of a conspiration, though many may wonder at the law enforcement bodies having taken a far bigger effort to catch Rath [with a suspected bribe], compared to their reluctance to crack down on suspicious government politicians, Pehe writes.

Why not, after all, let justice prevail in Rath's case now, many people think, Pehe writes.

The trouble rests in that justice has a matter-of-fact and an outward form aspects. It is up to the court to decide on the former. The latter involves a set of symbols that influence people's way of assessing the affair, Pehe says.

The latter aspect poses a problem in the Rath case. Justice can be optimally exercised in conditions of certain adequate civilness, far from showiness or pomp. In this connection, a lesson may be taught to new democracies by Norway where a mass murderer's trial is underway, Pehe writes.

In the Rath case, however, awkwardly spectacular inappropriateness prevails and threatens to raise doubts even in those who want to believe that justice is being sought. Since Rath's arrest, people have seen bombastic police actions, ostentatious manifestation of the state power and numerous attempts to misuse the affair to unrelated political purposes, Pehe writes.

As if the government wanted to show people that the more toothless it has been in much more serious cases so far, the more toughly it would handle the first case of a corrupt politician who was caught red-handed, Pehe continues.

No wonder that people ironically said that artillery and firefighter planes should have also been put on alert to complete the "absurd performance" of Rath's transfer by the police from a north Bohemian prison to parliament on Tuesday, Pehe writes.

The same applies to the authorities' decision that Rath be taken into custody, he adds, comparing the situation with another topical case, in which influential lobbyist Roman Janousek is suspected of attempting to harm another person's health but no one has sent him to a custody prison.

On the other hand, Rath himself contributed to his case's "inappropriate" outward course by his speech in the Chamber of Deputies. Rath, too, could have behaved in a "civil" and restrained way, but he did not, Pehe writes.

The most appropriate behaviour has been that of the Chamber of Deputies whose members resisted the temptation to address parliament with extensive comments. After politely hearing Rath's speech, they preferred doing the only possible thing - released him for criminal prosecution, Pehe writes.

The Chamber of Deputies, namely its chairwoman Miroslava Nemcova, may only be reproached for unnecessarily bowing to the executive power's demand that armed police must accompany Rath in parliament, and for tolerating the almost military manoeuvres during the transfer of Rath, still a not convicted suspect, to the lower house seat in Prague, Pehe concludes.