Prague, Sept 3 (CTK) – The Czech police have accused two people over pelting President Milos Zeman with eggs at a ceremony marking the November 1989 Velvet Revolution in Prague-Albertov last year, Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) writes yesterday, referring to Police President Tomas Hulan.
The police started investigating the incident as a crime of rioting, following the instructions of a state attorney, at the beginning of the summer holiday, Hulan confirmed to MfD.
If found guilty, the perpetrators face up to two years in prison for this act.
Previously, it was qualified only as a possible breach of civic cohabitation.
MfD writes that one of the prosecuted persons is Jindrich Fruehauf, 62, who confessed to throwing eggs to the police on the spot. However, he denied it in his later testimony.
“I will not be denouncing these students, so you would better put down that I was throwing it,” he said he had told the police at Albertov.
He was accused on the basis of these words, MfD writes.
Now, Fruehauf claims he was not throwing eggs, but he did not tell the truth to policemen to make him let the young people standing in front of him be.
Hundreds of Zeman’s opponents booed him during his speech on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the communist regime in Prague last November.
They criticised him for his accommodating policy towards Russia and China, heavy drinking and dirty expressions on radio. The crowd was pelting Zeman with eggs and other items and called for his resignation.
His bodyguards protected him with umbrellas. Zeman called the activists cowards. The police did not detain anyone at the gathering.
A district state attorney’s office, in charge of the case, received three legal complaints in connection with the incident. The police concluded that the egg throwers may have committed only a misdemeanour, breach of civic cohabitation, for which they would face a fine and possibly prohibition on residence.
The respective Prague 2 district authority was to deal with the case. Its clerks concluded that the throwing of eggs was not even a misdemeanour. However, the Prague City Hall later ordered the district authority to assess it as such.
In July, the police started investigating the incident on suspicion of rioting, MfD writes.
