Czech State Attorney probes PM’s signature controversial amnesty

The Czech Republic’s Supreme State Attorney Pavel Zeman has been called in to investigate whether Prime Minister Petr Necas acted illegally by undersigning the amnesty granted to more than 7,000 prisoners by former President Vaclav Klaus, at the start of 2013, Czech news agency Ceske noviny wrote March 14.

“[Senate Chairman] Milan Stech and [head of the legal committee Miroslav] Antl say Necas (Civic Democrats, ODS) may be suspected of abusing power because he signed the then president Vaclav Klaus´s New Year amnesty without having submitted it to the cabinet for discussion,” Ceske noviny wrote.

The amnesty declared by Klaus was part of an initiative celebrating 20 years of independence for the Czech Republic. It will mostly involve criminals serving short sentences.

What has outraged many politicians and media, is that the amnesty also includes financial criminals such as the bankers responsible for the fall of the Czech Central Bank, Union banka.

The Czech senate is currently investigating a complaint against Klaus to see whether his actions were unconstitutional.