2023-05-30 18:09:00
“So far, there is no known misconduct by the judicial guard, whom Minister Pavel Blažek thanks for handling the situation,” the ministry said on Twitter. After evaluating the incident, the minister will negotiate with other presidents of the courts so that such situations do not recur.
Together with the Minister of the Interior Vít Rakušan (STAN), Blažek agreed that the government would also deal with the case, with the participation of representatives of the police and the Prison Service. At its meeting on Wednesday, the Cabinet will consider possible measures to prevent similar interventions in the activities of the courts as far as possible repeat, wrote Blažek.
We have agreed with the minister @inside @Vit_Rakusanthat with the participation of representatives @PolicieCZ a @CrSluzba tomorrow’s government meeting will be on @strakovka deal with today’s violence at the Municipal Court in Prague and possible measures to prevent similar interventions in the activities of the courts if possible…
— Pavel Blažek (@blazek_p) May 30, 2023
“The judicial guard was fulfilling its legal task to ensure order and security in the court building. At the moment, we consider her intervention to be adequate and appropriate to the situation. We will analyze its course further“, Michailidis said. The Judicial Guard is part of the Prison Service, it ensures order and security in the buildings of courts, public prosecutor’s offices and the Ministry of Justice.
“Today’s incident it can be qualified as a crime of disorderly conduct, contempt of court or, in extreme cases, even as violence against an official,” Prague Municipal Court spokesman Adam Wenig told ČTK.
Dozens of her supporters came to the appeal hearing in the case in which Peterková was accused of spreading alarmist news. They broke into the meeting hall by force, the judicial guard, the rescue service and others had to intervene the police who arrested the two men. The appeals panel had to interrupt the proceedings. Later, without public participation, Peterková was given a two-year suspended sentence for spreading an alarmist message during the coronavirus pandemic. He set the woman on a three-year probationary period, during which she must behave properly. According to Peterková, the court did not sufficiently ensure that the trial took place peacefully.
The President of the Judicial Union, Libor Vávra, was judging in the adjacent courtroom when the incident took place. ČTK said that he witnessed the professional behavior of the judicial guard. “I believe that the management of the court will analyze whether to proceed differently next time, but I do not feel any wrongdoing,” he said. He doesn’t think it would be wise to call the “gunmen” in advance. “It can rather increase the aggressiveness of the crowd,” he thinks. According to him, similar incidents are exceptional in the courts, but they do happen. He added that the judicial guard is governed by the law and regime measures are issued by the president of the court. “In addition, there are security buttons in each courtroom, which can be used to immediately call the judicial guard. At the same time, the cameras will start. If necessary, the police are called, which happened today as well,” added Vávra.
In similar cases, judges cannot punish those who disrupt the court proceedings on the spot, but they can deal with it with administrative fines. “Those who attacked the court and illegally entered the courtroom committed a crime, in which the judge has no other option but to sanction financially. Subsequently, it will be handed over to law enforcement authorities from the first level, which is the police, and therefore the public prosecutor. The court will then decide on a case-by-case basis. The social danger here is high,” lawyer Jan Černý told the newspaper Právo. Attorney Jaroslav Ortman described the incident as a completely unprecedented case that requires punishment.
According to Miroslav Mareš, an expert on extremism from the Masaryk University in Brno, many people currently have a feeling of inner frustration and are looking for something to vent it. “At the moment, he finds it leaning towards some figures from the so-called disinformation scene, where those people feel that they have to stand up for them, that they are the ones who are fighting for them, they see in them a stronger authority than the state,” Mareš told CTK today. “For them, they are willing to take the risk of misdemeanor or even criminal prosecution, which they may not even realize at the time,” he added.
In February, the court of first instance sentenced Peterková to a two-year suspended sentence with a three-year probationary period for spreading the alarm. In the videos she posted on social networks during the coronavirus pandemic, the woman talked about the drastic investigation and treatment of children in hospitals, forced vaccination against covid or the occupation of the Czech Republic by NATO troops. Peterková pleaded not guilty at the trial, and appealed the decision. The Court of Appeal upheld her sentence today.
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