Jan Schneider

Why Czech premiers, past and present, avoid the hot seat over BIS

Jan Schneider — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:55:46 +0000

COMMENTARY by Jan Schneider / The lower house of parliament committee that oversees the Czech domestic spy service (BIS) convened again last week to discuss an ongoing investigation into a high-profile scandal that has rocked the Civic Democrats (ODS) to the core: the release of incriminating taped phone conversations from 2007 between the controversial Prague “ODS godfather” l

Church restitution, common sense and common ground for Procházková & Klaus

Jan Schneider — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:45:39 +0000

The lower house of parliament is debating the draft law on restitution of property owned by churches and religious groups, an attempt “to mitigate the consequences of the seizure of certain properties and other injustices.” The church, according to center-right Czech government’s proposal, should get about 56 percent of its assets back, worth an estimated Kč 75 billion, along

Janoušek’s character shows through in hit-and-run

Jan Schneider — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:24:26 +0000

The gray eminence of Prague City Hall under the reign of former mayor Pavel Bém (Civic Democrat, ODS) Roman Janoušek — who came under intense scrutiny just a few days earlier with the release of his secretly recorded conversations with Bém

In North Korea, the Olomouc bus driver Roman Smetana would face a firing squad

Jan Schneider — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:20:55 +0000

Ahead of the 2011 parliamentary elections, the freedom-loving but, in any case, mischievous Olomouc bus driver Roman Smetana scribbled over at least 30 campaign advertisements on buses.

In memory of Václav Havel, let’s not lie to ourselves

Jan Schneider — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:15:10 +0000

In his first New Year’s address as president in 1990, Václav Havel announced that he was not elected head of state so as to lie to people. And let’s not lie now. His departure from this world has ruthlessly detracted attention from other events which it is crucial the public monitors.

How to reverse decline of Czech police force

Jan Schneider — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 12:27:48 +0000

In recent days police have been arresting police. The first case involved the members of the team of “hard hitters” within a special unit who caused a death when vying to outdo each other with heavy handed tactics, then came the arrest of officers suspected of working on the side for film crews shooting in Prague. And just a couple of days ago criminal investigators in Brno were arrested on suspicion of sweeping investigations, mostly into financial crimes, under the carpet.

Senator Štětina’s opportune de-Bolshevization crusade

Jan Schneider — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:36:50 +0000

The Ministry of Interior has completed an analysis of the basis for banning the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) that comes down against the move. According to paper Lidový noviny and magazine Reflex, the main mover behind the original motion with the final ambition of winning a court ban on the party, senator Jaromír Štětina (Top 09), has reacted skeptically to the conclusions of this analysis.

Supreme state prosecutor to reinvestigate key cases

Jan Schneider — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:11:40 +0000

The turbulent Czech coalition government can be best characterized as a “basket of crabs,” as the French would say. This government’s partial political successes will most likely be questioned, and rightly so. Surprisingly, this might not necessarily be the case over the long term. One reason is Pavel Zeman’s first 100 days in office as supreme state prosecutor.

Code name ‘Jitka’: StB case raises red flag on lustration

Jan Schneider — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:51:51 +0000

Czech vetting of top public officials to make sure that they were not compromised by collaboration with the Communist-era secret police (StB) has once again come under the spotlight, thanks to the case of one high-placed manager at the Czech Social Security Administration (ČSSZ).

Czech Position found out that the woman in question occupied a top administrative position at the biggest administrator of public funds in the country — although she should have been barred from the post because she appears in the StB files.

Anti-corruption police chief unshackles subordinates

Jan Schneider — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 07:53:37 +0000

I had my first unconstrained encounter with the police on December 10,1989 — Human Rights Day. A police detective gave a terse reaction to the changes that were sweeping society at the time: “We hope the political pressures will stop and that there will be an end to the chalking-up-stripes-system.”