Shooting at Klaus was a desperate move, shooter says

Liberec, North Bohemia, Oct 1 (CTK) - The shooting at President Vaclav Klaus from a plastic gun on Friday was no attempted murder but a desperate step of an ordinary man, 26-year-old Pavel Vondrous, who repeatedly shot at Klaus at a public meeting, causing him a light arm injury, told journalists yesterday.

He said he did not count with the possibility of wounding Klaus. It surprised him.

Vondrous said he does not regret his step and that he is ready to accept punishment. He originally expected to end up in prison for a long time, for political reasons, for example, if he survived his action, he said.

The incident occurred at a bridge opening ceremony in Chrastava, north Bohemia, on Friday. When Klaus was surrounded by a crowd of people, Vondrous got close to him and shot at him from an airsoft gun, that shoots plastic pellets. Then he left the site of the incident without Klaus's bodyguards intervening.

He even gave an interview to journalists before being finally arrested, far from the place where the incident occurred.

He told them politicians were blind and deaf to people's complaints and this was the only chance for him to express dissatisfaction.

On Saturday, the police accused him of breach of the peace that carries up to two years in prison.

Psychiatrist Ivan David told CTK that Vondrous does not seem to suffer from a mental disorder.

David said he has not enough information to assess Vondrous's action competently, but the motive Vondrous presents may be right.

"He really may worry about the developments in the Czech Republic that he considers unfavourable and he decided to run the risk [of facing consequences of his action]," David, deputy director of the Prague-Bohnice psychiatric clinic, said.

Vondrous yesterday admitted that he had prepared the action some two weeks beforehand.

"I did not have much time, nor am I trained to do such things. I'm an ordinary blue collar worker. I only trained ways of shooting in the forest," he described his preparations for the attack.

He said he had chosen Klaus because he considers him one of those responsible for the bad condition in which the Czech Republic finds itself.

"It was not aimed only against him but against the whole system," he said.

Klaus, founder of the mainstream Civic Democratic Party (ODS), was Czech prime minister in 1992-1997, Chamber of Deputies head in 1998-2002 and he has been president since 2003.

Vondrous did not expect his action could wound Klaus. "I was quite surprised at seeing the photos, I tried the weapon on myself as well," he said.

Vondrous said he decided to shoot at Klaus from the maximum possible proximity in order not to hit his eyes or any other person of those surrounding him.

He said he reckoned with being possibly shot dead by Klaus's bodyguards. "I never wanted to be a martyr, I only wanted to live as a human," said Vondrous, who admitted that he is indebted. He dismissed, nevertheless, his bad financial situation being behind his attack. He mainly wanted to highlight the bad situation in the country where the life of ordinary people is getting harder and harder.

In his statement for CTK, Vondrous criticised the public power's unequal approach to citizens.

"[Finance Minister Miroslav] Kalousek slaps people in the street but, unlike me, he will not end up in a detention cell nor has he been accused of a breach of the peace. Lobbyist [Roman] Janousek has knocked down and heavily wounded a woman while driving drunk, without ending up in a detention cell. I spent many hours in it and my PC and cell phone were taken away from me. I've been accused of breach of the peace," Vondrous said.

He said by his attack he wanted to highlight the behaviour of the government that has far transgressed the limits that people can tolerate.

"This system has completely failed and it is necessary to say it resolutely," Vondrous said.

Taxes have been paid mainly by working people, who, in exchange, receive still worse and worse public administration and more restricted social services, he said.

"In this situation, it is inactivity that is a crime, not the step I have taken," said Vondrous, who lives alone in a rented flat in Liberec, the centre of the eponymous north Bohemian region.

He works with a construction company as a welder. This spring he joined the junior opposition Communist Party (KSCM), but he was passive and failed to pay membership fees. That is why the party scrapped his membership in early September.

The KSCM has dissociated from Vondrous's action on Friday.