Prague, July 11 (CTK) – A Czech court has punished two police investigators who accused a man of a series of armed robberies and even submitted his confession, which, however, turned out to be a fake made up by the two officers, daily Pravo wrote on Monday.
In October 2010, the officers said the suspect, to whom the daily refers as Emanuel, 65, had committed a series of robberies in Prague wine bars and petrol stations. After two days of interrogations, they gained his confession, Pravo writes.
The state attorney then filed criminal charges against Emanuel, who, however, was innocent. The police later caught the real offender whom a court sentenced to 4.5 years in prison in early 2014.
Emanuel’s prosecution was halted.
His wife then turned to the General Inspection of the Security Corps (GIBS), which checked the steps of the two investigators, aged 36 and 37. They were subsequently accused of abuse of power and blackmail and put on trial, Pravo writes.
Before the trial started, Emanuel died in May, 2014.
It was also due to Emanuel’s lacking complete testimony that the court twice acquitted the officers over a lack of evidence. However, the court of appeals always cancelled the acquitting verdict on the proposal of the state attorney, the daily writes.
On the third try, the lower-lever court met the attorney’s complaint several days ago, though only partially, Pravo continues.
The court found the two officers guilty of abusing the lack of experience and weakness on the part of the suspect who was easy to manipulate. His testimony, as they put it down, differed from what he really testified. In fact they dictated his testimony to him,” state attorney Michal Muravsky told Pravo.
The court found the officers guilty of abuse of power, imposed a three-year prison sentence with three-year probation on them and banned them from working with the police for two years, Pravo writes.
Originally, they faced up to 10 years in prison, but the suspicion of blackmail was not confirmed, though the attorney insists that they forced Emanuel to plead guilty.
“They handcuffed him to a bench and threatened him that he would be taken into custody. They described to him what violence he would face in custody. One of the officers asked him whether he knows what Gestapo used to do and then hit him with leather gloves in his face. The other hit Emanuel’s ears with his palms and punched him in the face,” the state attorney has written.
He told Pravo that he is considering appealing the verdict in reaction to the court’s dismissal of the blackmail charges.
