Amnesty may halt prosecution of 18 big economic cases

Prague, Jan 9 (CTK) - The amnesty declared by Czech President Vaclav Klaus on New Year's Day relates to 18 cases proceeded by high state attorneys, but not all of these big cases have to be halted, Supreme State Attorney Pavel Zeman told journalists Wednesday.

He said the damage caused in each of the 18 big cases is from 300 to 1750 million crowns and thousands of people might be harmed in these cases.

Up to 150 cases of criminal prosecution may be halted due to the amnesty, said Zeman who took part in a cabinet meeting dealing with the amnesty Wednesday.

Klaus's amnesty has applied to cases of criminal prosecution lasting more than eight years and with the suspects not being fugitive and not facing more than ten years in prison.

Zeman noted that all these cases are extensive and complicated and that it is impossible to decide on them within a week. He said he wants to know the exact number of the cases concerned by mid-February.

He said a possible complaint against the criminal prosecution halting filed by a state attorney cannot be applied universally, but that it needs to be assessed in each case whether such a complaint may be filed.

Zeman said he had an idea of how to proceed in order to take the damaged parties into account, but he added that he would not talk about it in public.

Prime Minister Petr Necas (Civic Democrats, ODS) said it is not known how many persons who have been harmed by the amnesty might be compensated.

He said the government did not generally reject possible compensation paid to those harmed, but he pointed out that the cabinet only discussed the issue briefly.

Necas said it is the president's right to declare amnesty and he as prime minister had to countersign the amnesty provided that it was not at variance with the constitution.

He said he regrets that the amnesty escalated tension in society and caused controversy.

Justice Minister Pavel Blazek (ODS) said the amnesty showed that laws related to harmed parties in a criminal proceeding dated from 1961, were not dealt with sufficiently and needed to be revised.

The cabinet Wednesday ordered the Justice Ministry to prepare an amendment to the legislation.

Blazek said 285 judges, 111 state attorneys, 388 judicial assistants and 520 prison service members have participated in the work related to the amnesty so far.

More than 6000 inmates have been released from Czech prisons so far as a result of the broad amnesty. The amnesty has been sharply criticised mainly because it halts the criminal proceedings in some closely watched cases of financial crime and corruption. Some of the released convicts have already committed crime.