Constitutional Court in Brno – illustrative photo.
Brno – The Constitutional Court rejected a complaint against the suspension of the prosecution of the former leading ideologist of the Communist Party of Czech Republic, Jan Fojtík, in the case of possible joint responsibility for the dead and injured on the Czechoslovak border during the communist totalitarianism. This was told to ČTK today by Lubomír Müller, the legal representative of the German Thomas Bartsch, who filed the constitutional complaint. “The resolution was delivered on Friday, the Constitutional Court put an end to the criminal prosecution of Jan Fojtík,” said Müller. Fojtík is 95 years old and, according to an expert opinion, suffers from dementia.
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The Office for the Documentation and Investigation of the Crimes of Communism (ÚDV) initiated the criminal prosecution of five former officials of the communist regime. They were former general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czech Republic Miloš Jakeš, former Czechoslovak Prime Minister Lubomír Štrougal, former Minister of the Interior Vratislav Vajnar, former secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic Fojtík and another former Minister of the Interior František Kincl.
According to the ÚDV, the former leading representatives of the totalitarian regime could have committed an abuse of power. They knew that people trying to get to the West were at risk of injury and death at the Czechoslovak borders.
Jakeš died in 2020. Štrougal's prosecution was legally stopped in May 2021 because he was unable to understand the meaning of the criminal proceedings. In December 2021, the ÚS decided that Štrougal's mental state was assessed by biased experts. The second time, however, the prosecution was stopped, followed by another constitutional complaint, on which the court has not yet decided. Given that Štrougal died in February this year, it is likely that the complaint proceedings will be stopped.
Criminal prosecution was also stopped for Jan Fojtík in December of last year because, according to experts, he is unable to understand the meaning of criminal proceedings . Thomas Bartsch, who filed a constitutional complaint against the suspension of the prosecution and who was seriously injured by border guards in 1989, argued that Fojtík was still well versed in the political conditions of the time to which the prosecution relates. However, the Constitutional Court favored the expert's opinion that the 95-year-old Fojtík is suffering from dementia and his condition will worsen.
Criminal prosecution is now continuing only with the ex-minister of the interior Vajnar, who was born in 1930. Originally it was due to dementia was stopped, but the Constitutional Court overturned it with a ruling from December 2021. The District Attorney's Office for Prague 1 filed the indictment in February this year.
