The Prague Post
November 22nd, 2008
Prague Property

Police wiretaps infuriate president

Klaus outraged over reports police listened in on his conversations

By Peter Kononczuk
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
October 28, 2004


President Vaclav Klaus has condemned a web of police wiretapping as a "scandalous" invasion of citizens' privacy after press reports stated that officers listened in on his telephone conversations with a businessman. Klaus called in Prime Minister Stanislav Gross for talks Oct. 26 on the controversy.

The storm over wiretapping intensified when Lidove noviny reported Oct. 23 that police bugged entrepreneur Ranko Pecic, an old friend of Klaus, for four months until March 2004 and could overhear his talks with the president.

The report came a day after Klaus suggested that Jiri Kolar, president of the state police, should be sacked over Kolar's remarks on bugging. The police chief had said tapping into private conversations by the authorities should not bother people who are innocent.

Meanwhile, Irena Zadrazilova, a spokeswoman for the Prague High State Attorney's Office, said police did not have records of conversations between Klaus and Pecic in their files.

Lidove noviny also reported Oct. 23 that police overheard Klaus' private talks with Mirek Topolanek, head of senior opposition Civic Democrats (ODS). ODS leaders have claimed that as part of government attempts to politically damage the party, police monitored Topolanek's conversations during inquiries into claims that the ODS offered Deputy Zdenek Koristka 10 million Kc ($385,000) to withhold backing for the Cabinet in a parliamentary vote of confidence in August.

"I consider what is going on in this country to be really scandalous, and I believe that it is the task of us, all citizens ... who wish for freedom, to really fight against it," Klaus said Oct. 25, referring to wiretapping.

Kolar pointed out that all bugging by police must be approved by a court.

Vladimir Prorok, a professor of political science at the Prague University of Economics, said he believes police carry out too much wiretapping. "If it helps stop criminality, it [bugging] is acceptable. But the question is whether it is used to stop criminality or to discredit politicians," Prorok added.

The Czech Republic is top of the league among developed countries in terms of wiretaps, with 100 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to a report in Nedelni svet Oct. 24 citing a study by the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Germany.



Peter Kononczuk can be reached at pkononczuk@praguepost.com




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