Czech Republic1

The construction of a metal fence between Roma and the majority population in the Maticni Street in the North Bohemian town of Usti nad Ladem received worldwide attention. © Czech Committee

IHF FOCUS: Freedom of expression and lation improved the rights of former resi- free media; the judicial system; fair trial; dents of Czecho-Slovakia but left some conditions in prisons and detention facili- loopholes which could, potentially, be ties; protection of ethnic minorities; citi- used against individuals. In the field of zenship; protection of asylum seekers and children’s rights, new legislation was immigrants. adopted, and more legislation was pend- ing, improving the situation of children but The main concerns in the failing to solve some serious problems. Czech Republic concerned prolonged ju- dicial proceedings, particularly in civil Freedom of Expression and cases, and the failure to adequately re- the Media solve the “Roma question”, which contin- ued to raise attention internationally. On 7 December, the Chamber of Deputies Criminal libel remained in Czech legisla- passed a heavily amended version of the tion, a fact which contributed to self-cen- press bill. The new bill did not contain sorship. The situation of asylum seekers re- provisions imposing large fines or the sus- mained precarious. New citizenship legis- pension of the publication of a newspaper

1 Based on the Annual Report 1999 of the Czech Helsinki Committee.

124 Czech Republic or magazine that had fomented violence even though doubts about their guilt re- or spread racial hatred, because such acts mained. were already banned by the criminal code. The new legislation limited the right In dubious cases, individuals were some- to respond to incorrect information pub- times held guilty due to poor professional lished by the media: the earlier law had qualifications of the police. In several guaranteed such a right in relation to the cases, police overlooked or destroyed cru- publication of both correct and incorrect cial evidence. In other cases, they ob- information. Now, a publication also has tained evidence by illegal means, resorting the right to comment on responses.2 to violence, criminal activity and bribery.

Journalists could be charged with making Insufficient funding and a lack of supervi- “false accusations” under the criminal law, sion of the use of funds both affected po- which provided for prison sentences. lice work. Low wages resulted in a drain of competent experts, shortage of police offi- ■ On 13 December, the State Attorney’s cers, permanent overtime work, and diffi- Office filed a lawsuit against journalist culties in recruiting suitable officers. More- Zdenek Zukal for making “false accusa- over, the prosecutors’ supervision of po- tions” against police officers in the town of lice work and guidance in legal matters Olomouc. If convicted, Zukal could face a was frequently inadequate. prison sentence of up to three years. Zul- kal had alleged links between the Olo- The courts, under pressure to sentence of- mouc police force and organized crime.3 fenders, tolerated the poor preparation of cases. They also rarely used alternative The Judicial System methods of proceedings – for example, mediation between the victim and perpe- The functionality and efficiency of the trator or the conditional suspension of criminal justice system was influenced by criminal proceedings. Alternative sen- a number of factors, not all of which di- tences to imprisonment for minor offences, rectly involved the operation of the courts. such as petty theft or failure to pay alimo- For example, the preparation of cases, in- ny, were equally rare – a fact that in no vestigations, collecting evidence, and the way assisted the rehabilitation of offend- work of the prosecutor often impeded the ers. operation of courts. The courts also lacked modern recording The collection of evidence by the police, equipment for the court’s records, result- under the supervision of the prosecutor, ing in both unnecessary delays in the hear- caused particular concern. Their work was ings and the distortion of statements. Such inconsistent, and often insufficiently estab- technical problems were sometimes a sub- lished the core of the case. The incompe- stantial impediment to the work of appeal tent and insufficient work of the police courts because the records of the cases often resulted in a chain of failures and un- were typed according to the orders of the substantiated delays in judicial proceed- preceding judge, and thus only reflected ings, leading to the miscarriage of justice: his/her attitudes. innocent individuals were convicted and perpetrators were released. In addition, the Other serious problems in the Czech judi- courts sometimes held individuals guilty cial system were the failure to observe the

2 RFE/RL Newsline, 8 December 1999. 3 RFE/RL Newsline, 14 December 1999.

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dubio pro reo principles (i.e., when in governmental bill to amend the civil pro- doubt, the court should decide in favor of cedure code. The new code was passed the defendant), observance of objective and will come into force in January 2001. truth and the right of the defendant to speak his mother language. Court decisions in matters of restitution pursuant to the Extra-Judicial Rehabilita- Many individuals, particularly foreigners, tion Act No. 87/1991 were also problem- spent extremely long periods in detention, atic. If individuals with restitution claims often because courts failed to observe succeeded in attaining judgment, the legal provisions. Many courts, for example courts often ordered the defendant to sur- the court in Kladno, refused conditional render his/her real estate to the claimant, release almost systematically, thereby but left the plot of land concerned in the overburdening the already suffering peni- possession of the defendant, resulting in tentiary system. an untenable situation. Several applica- tions for extraordinary remedies were The modification of the criminal proce- filed, including a complaint to the Consti- dure code was underway. It will assign, tutional Court with reference to courts’ inter alia, the central part of the criminal misinterpretation of the act. Two of the proceedings to the courts and is expected complaints were filed by the Czech to make the work of the authorities more Helsinki Committee. efficient by preventing the unnecessary repetition of certain procedures. Conditions in Prisons and Detention Facilities Fair Trial The situation in the penitentiary system in Non-observance of the right to a fair trial the Czech Republic has been alarming for was the main human rights problem in the a number of years. According to the Czech field of civil law. European standards were Helsinki Committee, the prison system violated by all levels of the civil courts. was expensive and obsolete, and ran inef- fectively. It claimed that without funda- Lawsuits dragged on for several years. mental changes, it would not be able to Sometimes the delays stemmed from the continue to maintain the semblance of complexity of the case, but in the over- meaningfulness it has been able to demon- whelming majority of cases, the delays strate. The penitentiary system was stag- could not be justified. Courts simply ad- gering under the weight of a large number journed the proceedings to an unspecified of problems, caused by overcrowding and date, sometimes even for one year. In re- a desperate financial situation. sponse to a complaint by the Czech Helsinki Committee, the presiding judge in The prisons were overcrowded: as of 12 a regional court admitted to inadequate November, the detention facilities housed delays, but only cited the excessive work- inmates at 113 percent of their capacity; load of judges as a justification. prisons at 123 percent of their capacity. Some penitentiaries accommodated in- As a result of prolonged proceedings, more mates at 50 percent beyond their capacity. and more individuals decided not to file a The overcrowding of prisons could be at- claim, as they could not afford the costs of tributed to the tendency of courts to place legal proceedings expanding over years. too many suspects in custody; ignorance of alternative sentences; an inefficient pen- In December 1999, the Chamber of itentiary system; and insufficient post-pen- Deputies of the parliament discussed a itentiary care.

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Many criminal suspects were placed in that single-bed cells be introduced, and custody awaiting trial, a time that could prisoners be provided with productive turn into years. Most judges had little trust work. in using new, alternative punishment in- stead of imprisonment, or mediation be- Post-penitentiary care fell seriously short tween the defendant and the plaintiff, of international and domestic standards. which aimed at solving the dispute on a Former prisoners were left virtually all civil basis. In addition, the system of pro- alone and were not even offered tempo- bation was underdeveloped. This was rary accommodation and employment – or partly due to a lack of governmental inter- if such a possibility existed, they were est on the issue. The regulation and imple- often not informed of it. This omission left mentation of alternative sentences, such as them poorly equipped in terms of their the performance of publicly beneficial reintegration into society. work, was also addressed unsatisfactorily. As a rule, the municipalities were not in- Protection of Ethnic Minorities terested in offering job opportunities to of- fenders because it would have brought The Roma them additional responsibilities that were not clearly defined. The financing of such 1999 did not bring any marked changes in alternative punishment was not clearly the field of minority rights. Although the regulated either. Moreover, the Peniten- state was aware of the necessity of inte- tiary Administration did not take effective grating the Roma into Czech society, the measures to find places of work. measures taken by the state were slow, dif- fident and inconsistent. The care of prisoners was gravely insuffi- cient, with the system focusing in many The Roma minority continued to face prisons merely on the inmates’ survival. problems stemming from their low social This could partly be attributed to a short- status and discrimination in all sectors of age of funds. As a result, imprisonment life. Their unemployment rate, which re- had a plainly deterrent effect: it did not mained at 70–90 percent (compared to the contribute to the rehabilitation of offend- majority population’s rate of about 8 per- ers. The prisoners had few opportunities to cent), could be partly attributed to the work, or be both physically and mentally poor qualifications of the Roma: 80-85 active. percent of them had only completed ele- mentary education, mostly in the so-called The prison administration was underpaid ESN schools designed for retarded chil- and understaffed, hardly able to keep the dren. Only 8.4 percent had attended oc- organization under control. This led to au- cupational schools; 1.2 percent secondary thoritative attitudes towards prisoners, in- schools; and 0.3 percent had academic stead of fruitful cooperation. Only the in- education. Five percent remained without creased use of alternative sentences could any school education. Another obstacle bring the number of prisoners down by at was the reluctance of Czech employers to least one third. hire Roma. The state took no measures to promote the employment of Roma, or to As a result of the poor prison conditions, establish regulations that would penalize violence, blackmail, abuse and mental ter- employers who refused to hire Roma sole- ror among the prisoners escalated. The ly on ethnic grounds. Czech Helsinki Committee urged that the prison system be transformed in the direc- In addition, for years, in some locations, tion of individual work with the prisoners, Czech unemployment officers have added

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“R” into the computer files of applicants Roma continued to emigrate, mostly to the who appeared to be Roma.4 United Kingdom, but also to and . The Czech airlines marked Roma Roma still fell victim to skinhead attacks, passengers travelling to London with “G” but the police and the courts appeared to for “Gypsy” on their flight records, official- be reacting with increased sensitivity. ly to speed up the immigration process in London.9 After a public outcry, this prac- ■ On 30 June, a Prague court sentenced tice was abolished. It was alleged that the three skinheads to prison terms ranging main reason behind emigration was the from six-and-a-half to eight-and-a-half poor economic situation, often with no in- years on charges of racially motivated tention to apply for political asylum. This murder and attempted murder. The light fact raised criticism among the majority sentences were motivated by the fact that population and contributed to intolerance the perpetrators had been under age at the towards Roma. The Roma did not lose time of the crime. In 1993, they had, with their entitlement to social security benefits other skinheads, attacked a group of Roma during their absence, and while abroad, in Pisek, southern Bohemia, and chased the welfare in the host countries was an- them to a river. One Roma drowned.5 other source of income. After being re- turned from abroad (often after one year) ■ On 26 October, the Regional Court of they collected the accumulated benefits. Ostrava accepted an offer from the Hotel Imperial to pay 25,000 Czech crowns (ap- The construction of a metal fence in the proximately U.S.$800) in compensation to Maticni street in the North Bohemian town three Roma because hotel staff had refused of Usti nad Ladem received worldwide at- to serve them. This was the first successful tention. The dispute emerged between the legal case which challenged racial dis- owners of apartment buildings on one side crimination in access to public accommo- of the street and the Roma living as non- dation in the Czech Republic.6 paying tenants in municipality-owned apartments on the other side of the street. ■ On 22 November, two skinheads were The fence was erected after the real estate arrested and charged with racially moti- owners claimed that the Roma had placed vated violence for allegedly attacking garbage in front of the houses, failed to ob- Roma in Ceske Budejovice. In total, serve the night-time silence and caused around 30 skinheads attacked some 60-70 damage to the private real estates near Roma and a brawl ensued. Six people their homes. The owners demanded a re- were injured.7 action from the municipality, but the legal situation was complex because the civil On 26 October, a group of Czech deputies code did not provide for any remedy. The submitted a bill that would impose stiffer municipal authorities eventually chose to penalties (of up to eight years) for the prop- erect a fence in the middle of the street to agation of movements that promote racial “protect” the owners of the houses. The or class hatred.8 fence attracted wide international criti-

4 RFE/RL Newsline, 27 October 1999. 5 RFE/RL Newsline, 1 July 1999. 6 European Roma Rights Center, “ERRC Applauds Court-Approved Compensation for Racial Discrimination against Roma by Czech Hotel Owner,” 29 October 1999. 7 RFE/RL Newsline, 23 November 1999. 8 RFE/RL Newsline, 27 October 1999. 9 RFE/RL Newsline, 19 October 1999.

128 Czech Republic cism, for example by the EU and the UN, eventually fired. The director of the home as a violation of international anti-discrim- reported the cases to police as racially mo- ination standards and an act of racial seg- tivated slander. regation. According to the Czech Helsinki Committee, the construction of the wall The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC, also demonstrated that the Czech state IHF cooperationg organization) filed a suit was entirely ill-prepared to solve ethnical- with the Constitutional Court against the ly motivated problems and lacked the abil- Ministry of Education, Youth and Physical ity to distinguish between racism and Education and against the principals of inter-personal problems. On the initiative ESN schools. It stated that 12 Roma pupils, of the prime minister, the wall was even- whom the Center represented together tually pulled down on 24 November.10 with their parents, had been placed in ESN schools even though they should have at- As of this writing, a governmental bill on tended normal elementary schools. The ethnic minorities was under discussion. It ERRC charged that their selection to ESN would address, among other things, the schools was racially motivated and aimed status of minorities, the right to self-gov- at racial segregation. However, the Consti- ernment, and the means of electing local tutional Court dismissed the case on pro- minority authorities. The bill was cedural grounds and merit. scheduled for submission to parliament in 2000. On the other hand, it was commonplace that Roma parents did not make a special Another persistent problem was the high effort to support their children and see that percentage (80 percent) of Roma children they completed their education in normal attending special schools (ESN schools) elementary schools. The state appointed designed to support retarded children or Roma assistants in some schools to sup- children with educational and other prob- port Roma children and help them over- lems who were unable to attend regular come linguistic and cultural barriers. As- primary education. In practice, however, sistants were also appointed to schools, about 70 percent of pupils in the special and “zero”-classes were established in schools were of Roma origin. Such a high schools to help the Roma in the beginning. number suggested the deliberate and Although these measures proved success- racially motivated segregation of school ful, they remained pilot projects only. children. It also suggested that the rights of Roma children were not secured in accor- Citizenship dance with the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. Some Roma In September, the Czech Republic finally families filed constitutional applications fulfilled its citizenship obligations as a suc- against this practice. The Constitutional cessor state of federal Czecho-Slovakia: it Court rejected the applications for proce- approved an amendment to Czech citizen- dural reasons, as the parents had not used ship law, facilitating access to Czech citi- all appropriate legal measures. zenship for citizens of the former Czecho- Slovakia and other residents in its territory. ■ In one children’s home, some Roma The 1996 amendment had already made it children were intimidated and humiliated easier to obtain Czech citizenship, but that in public by two educators who were provision had left the final decision at the

10 See also European Roma Rights Center, “ERRC Demands Effective Action in Halting Czech Apartheid,” 7 October 1999, and “City Authorities Build Ghetto Wall in Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic,” 14 October 1999.

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discretion of the Ministry of Interior. In ad- split of the federation but were not offi- dition, the former procedure was consider- cially registered as residents. Most of them ably more complicated with a number of were Roma. administrative hurdles. Children under the age of fifteen could be The 1999 amendment finally acknowl- included in the declarations of their par- edged the unlimited right of option for cit- ents. If one of their parents was a Czech izenship for former Czecho-Slovaks who citizen at the date of the declaration, the had been residing in the Czech territory at child could submit its own declaration. least from the date of the disintegration of The same applied to children whose Czecho-Slovakia. Such persons can, with- Czech parents had been stripped of their out a set deadline, obtain Czech citizen- parental rights: the child’s guardian or ship by making a declaration to that end. tutor would submit the declaration for the child. The new provisions regarding chil- The amendment provided for dual citizen- dren were especially welcome as they ship on a relatively large scale because could, if properly applied, prevent the di- most prospective new citizens under this vision of families. amendment would be also Slovak citizens: the law did not require them to give up The amended law failed to prescribe a fee their Slovak citizenship. Despite the osten- for the declaration. The Czech Committee sible minimal requirements for Czech citi- initiated a discussion between the Min- zenship, the Czech Helsinki Committee istries of Interior and Finance to have the feared that the situation could turn out to fee waived, but with no progress at the be more complicated in practice. It said time of this writing. the most critical point was the fact that a person would not be granted citizenship Protection of Asylum Seekers the moment he/she submits the declara- and Immigrants tion, but that the document would be is- sued by a district office at a later date. This Asylum seekers were accommodated in a regulation still vested district offices with camp in Vy‰ní Lhota in Moravia. The the power to reject the declaration on the Counselling Center for Refugees (PPU) was grounds that the evidence for permanent in charge of underage unaccompanied residency since the date of the disintegra- youths: one of its employees acted as a tion was insufficient. It was feared that guardian in administrative proceedings. some district offices would only state their The PPU criticized the fact that individuals rejections orally, and thus deprive the de- from specific countries who did not pos- clarants of the possibility to appeal the de- sess travel documents were not allowed to cision. This fear was well-grounded as the stay in the refugee camp. aforementioned practice was common- place. This problem was of particular con- The regime of the refugee camps, which cern given the fact that most declarants were located outside municipalities, often were expected to be older, semi-literate or had a detrimental effect on the mental completely illiterate, and unaware of ad- health of asylum applicants. Traumatized ministrative procedures and their own by the experiences in their countries of ori- rights. gin, their future remained uncertain during prolonged administrative proceedings that The first to experience difficulties with the could even take one year. The PPU pro- implementation of the law were individu- vided asylum seekers with mental, social als who claimed to have lived permanent- and legal assistance, and organized recre- ly in the Czech Republic at least since the ational activities. Special attention was

130 Czech Republic paid to children and women, with a par- situation where children had to spend in- ticular focus on women who had fled creasingly long periods in children’s countries where they had enjoyed virtual- homes, a result of a 1998 amendment of ly no human rights or had been exposed to family law that prolonged the procedure. cruel and inhuman treatment. The provisions governing the divorce of parents of minors was also made more In 1999, refugees from Kosovo were grant- complicated: the courts first had to decide ed temporary protection: some of them ap- on the care of the child and then decide on plied for asylum, others obtained resi- the divorce. dence permits on the grounds of family re- unification pursuant to the foreigners resi- Despite the 1999 legislative improve- dence act. ments, not all problems were solved. It appeared that the draft law focused more Asylum applicants who were not granted on procedure than substance. For exam- asylum, appealed an asylum decision with ple, the current law failed to centralize the High Court of Justice, or were without child protection issues, which remained travel documents treated as normal for- divided in different ministries. This prob- eigners. These individuals could not con- lem was not solved by the establishment of tact their embassy as long as their cases a section for the rights of the child under were pending in the High Court, which the Council for Human Rights because lasted approximately two years. They were neither the council nor the ministries had housed in a camp in Belá-Jezová, but their executive powers and did not operate financial situation was extremely precari- under the law, but rather under a govern- ous. mental resolution.

During 1999, amendments to the relevant In addition, the regulation of parents’ visit- legislation were discussed, resulting in a ing rights in children homes (following a new asylum act and a new foreigners’ res- court decision that the parents were un- idence act. able to care for the child) remained at the discretion of the homes. This could lead to Rights of the Child conflicts touching upon the interest of the child and could be considered as running The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs counter to principles of the established prepared draft legislation on the social and rule of law. legal protection of the child. The new law was expected to replace sections of the Under the new bill, the child care officers 1963 family law and improve the state’s responsible would have a duty to visit a protection of the child. As of December, child placed in a home at least once every the House of Representatives had passed six months in order to establish whether the bill and it was pending in the Senate. the reasons for the child’s stay in the home Some NGOs objected to the provisions of still exist. The Ministry of Labor and Social the bill concerning mediation in the cases Affairs presented a draft law on home and of adoption. The bill provided for media- protective care in late 1999. It was incor- tion only by the state, without influence porated into the new law on social and from these organizations. According to the legal protection of the child. Czech Helsinki Committee, the bill would centralize the adoption procedure and Parliament also passed a law that im- make it more efficient and transparent. proved the situation of children of former The committee pointed out that a prompt Czecho-Slovak citizens. These children, procedure was particularly important in a despite their permanent residence in the

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Czech Republic after the break-up of Czech export controls include countries Czecho-Slovakia, had not been granted engaged in abusive civil wars, such as Czech nationality under new Czech citi- Angola and Sri Lanka. More recently, in zenship law and were therefore consid- September 1999, the Czech government ered either Slovaks or stateless persons. confirmed its intention to sell surplus tanks Problems occurred in different spheres of to Yemen despite serious concerns that the their lives, mainly upon parental neglect. tanks would be diverted to Sudan, which After the new law was passed, guardians, is subject to an E.U. arms embargo be- custodians or other persons responsible for cause of a protracted civil war marked by the children (including social protection gross violations of human rights. Earlier in officers acting as custodians) could present the year, cancelled a similar tank a declaration of Czech nationality on the transfer to Yemen after the first shipment of child’s behalf without parental approval.11 twenty tanks was reportedly delivered to Sudan instead. The amended family legislation also had a positive effect on the attitudes of state ad- In addition, at least one private Czech ministration. Courts were able to withdraw company has been accused of involve- parents’ custodial responsibility if they ment in illicit arms trade. In March 1999, considered a child to be the victim of a customs officials in Azerbaijan halted the crime committed by his or her parent; if attempted delivery, reportedly to North the child was pushed to commit a crime; Korea, of several disassembled fighter or if a parent committed a crime together planes from Kazakhstan. The deal had with his or her child. This new legislation been arranged by a Czech company provides for the better protection of chil- whose representatives were briefly de- dren who suffer from parental misconduct. tained, with the cargo, in Baku. The Czech Unfortunately, the protection of children government initiated an investigation and who were victims of a crime committed by has reportedly filed charges. The company their parents remained inadequate under denied any wrongdoing, stating that the the penal procedure. It was not uncom- disassembled aircrafts were headed to mon that a parent charged with abusing India via Slovakia. In a separate but relat- his/her child was represented by an attor- ed case in November 1999, the United ney, whereas the child was represented States government imposed sanctions on only by a legally unskilled social worker. the same Czech company and three repre- The Czech Committee demanded that sentatives accused of facilitating the trans- children in such cases be appointed legal fer, in mid-1999, of around forty combat representation. aircrafts from Kazakhstan to North Korea. A trial is underway in Kazakhstan against a Arms Trade12 military official and businessperson con- nected to the latter deal. ■■■ Despite a proclaimed commitment to fol- low the European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, the Czech Republic con- tinued to allow deals to areas of conflict, governments suspected of re-transferring weapons, and armed forces known to vio- late human rights. Past beneficiaries of lax

11 See also Citizenship. 12 By /Division on Arms Trade for this report.

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