Former Czech President Vaclav Klaus narrowly escapes prosecution for controversial amnesty

Former-Czech President Vaclav Klaus will not be charged with treason, for giving amnesty to some 7,000 criminals, because the charges were submitted a short while after his mandate expired, Czech daily Ceske noviny wrote, March 28.

“The [Constitutional Court] US verdict makes the initiators of the charge against Klaus comical figures: they planned to take strong action against Klaus so long that they missed the deadline,”  Czech daily Lidove noviny commented.

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 outraged many politicians and the media, was that the amnesty included financial criminals such as the bankers responsible for the fall of the Czech Central Bank, Union banka.

An estimated 7,416 prisoners are expected to be released under the scheme.