President vetoes bill tackling overcrowded prisons

Prague, Sept 17 (CTK) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus vetoed yesterday the lawmakers' amendment aimed to lower the overcrowding of prisons and wrote on his web page that it is rash and that the situation should be mainly solved with a change to the established practice of imposing punishments.

The legislation now returns to the Chamber of Deputies that already overrode a veto of the left-dominated upper house of parliament, Senate.

According to the amendment, the number of prisoners should be mainly reduced by a more frequent application of house arrest or release for less serious crimes on probation.

The bill also shortens the deadlines for possible earlier release, which was one of the reasons why the senators rejected the bill.

Klaus criticised the provision according to which the prison director could apply for the release of a prisoner.

The court would not comply with such a proposal only if it were evident that the prisoner would not live a proper life at liberty, the amendment says.

Klaus wrote that this would mean in practice that the decision-making would be up to prison directors while courts would only confirm the decision.

"This would deny the predictability of criminal law, relativise the system of punishments and introduce voluntarism in the judiciary mechanisms," Klaus wrote.

He wrote that the provision according to which the non-payers of maintenance would be stripped of their driving licence would be counterproductive.

"The prevention of the use of motor vehicles can make the earning of living and consequently the payment of maintenance more difficult," Klaus wrote.