ODS deputies: Treason charges against Klaus are vindictive

Prague, March 5 (CTK) - The Senate decision to press high treason charges against President Vaclav Klaus with the Constitutional Court (US) from March 4 is "poor, vindictive and mean," deputies for the senior ruling Civic Democratic Party (ODS) said in their press release sent to CTK Tuesday.

"Those who voted for the decision tried to settle their accounts with Klaus in a cowardly manner," the statement said.

"In doing so, they have not only irrevocably harmed their own reputation, but also the reputation of the entire Czech Republic, including the Senate itself," it added.

The left-dominated 81-member Senate voted 38-30 for the proposal on Monday. It was officially received by the US Tuesday.

Klaus said Tuesday he was convinced that the Senate's high treason complaint against him was not motivated by any real wrongdoing of his and that a political clash should not stoop so low.

The Chamber of Deputies chairwoman and ODS deputy chairwoman Miroslava Nemcova said in her press release the upper house's verdict was expedient.

She said the senators who had voted for the motion had decided irrespective of whether they would harm the Czech Republic abroad and irrespective of a wide divide in Czech society to be caused by the step.

Klaus's second and last term in office ends on March 7.

Along with the New Year amnesty, the senators have filed the complaint because, they say, he failed to sign the addendum to the Lisbon Treaty on the new rescue fund of the euro zone and he was dragging his feet when having to sign an addendum to the European Social Charter.

Besides, they argue that for almost one year he failed to name any constitutional judges. Except for two failed attempts, he did not propose anyone for approval to the Senate, "whereby he seriously threatened the proper working of the Constitutional Court," the senators said.

Klaus's amnesty applies to convicts with low suspended or prison sentences and elderly convicts and it also halts criminal proceedings if they lasted for more than eight years, and if the maximum prison sentence that can be imposed in such cases does not exceed ten years.

This provision was sharply criticised since it applies to some high-profile corruption and financial crime cases.

The US may decide on the complaint by the end of March.