Prague, Sept 14 (CTK) – The Prague High Court annulled on Thursday the verdict in the intelligence information leak case of Jana Necasova (previously Nagyova), wife of ex-PM Petr Necas and the former head of his office, and lobbyist Ivo Rittig and returned it for reappraisal.
A lower level court imposed suspended sentences of 1.5 years on Necasova and nine months on Rittig and his lawyer David Michal each for leaking classified information from the BIS counter-intelligence service.
Appeals court panel chairman Viktor Mach said the Prague Municipal Court had not dealt with all circumstances significant for the verdict. Moreover, there exist doubts about its findings being correct, he added.
Other pieces of evidence will have to be submitted to clarify the case, Mach said.
The Prague Municipal Court will have to assess more thoroughly whether the crucial piece of evidence of the indictment, a wiretapping recording of Rittig’s meting in a hotel, is admissible since the police had obtained it when investigating other crime activities.
According to the indictment, Rittig learnt from Necasova, whose name was Nagyova at the time, and from the agriculture minister, that Prime Minister Petr Necas (Civic Democrats, ODS, 2010-2013) received a classified document from the BIS director.
Supposing the document to concern himself, Rittig asked his lawyer to meet Nagyova who acquainted the lawyer with its content.
This enabled Rittig to take measures to cover up his controversial influence on various state bodies.
The four suspects pleaded not guilty.
Both the three defendants, Necasova, Rittig and Michal, and state attorney Rostislav Bajger, appealed the January verdict by the Prague Municipal Court.
The attorney demanded higher sentences and besides, he minded the court acquitting the fourth defendant, Rittig’s business contact and former agriculture minister Tomas Jindra.
The High Court said on Thursday it had taken all appeals into consideration in its decision-making.
The information leak case, together with other scandals, led to the fall of the Necas cabinet in mid-2013. Necas divorced shortly afterwards and married Nagyova.
