What's depressing is the likely reason she was bound to run into trouble: Benešová, who has held the post since 1999, is an outspoken, independent, intelligent crusader against corruption.

During a well-publicized scandal last year involving Kladno officials accused of improprieties, she said such towns in the Czech Republic too often operate like little "Palermos," where little can be done without greasing the right palm.

During the much-trumpeted but much less effective anti-corruption campaign of former Prime Minister Miloš Zeman known as Clean Hands, Benešová pointed out that there was little to the initiative besides its grand-sounding name. Further, she said, it was essentially a political move, and she argued that to run such a reform properly, it should be handed over to the Justice Ministry for the effective prosecution of white-collar criminals.

Zeman, not famous for his inclusiveness or flexibility, agreed.

Benešová also found herself in hot water last year when she proposed a way to go after one of the most notorious asset strippers in post-1989 Czech history, Viktor Kožený, who prosecutors suspect of ripping off the savings of hundreds of naive investors in the early '90s. Kožený now enjoys a comfortable life in the Bahamas. Benešová proposed extending a 1925 treaty between the Czech Republic and Great Britain, which she believed could make it possible to extradite Kožený for prosecution here. She didn't seem troubled when news of the plan reached the press.

Němec promptly called that an inappropriate "information leak" that would "inhibit the action of the department." Five days later he initiated talks with the Bahamas about reviving the treaty.

Admittedly, this has yet to result in the return of Kožený from the Bahamas. But the pattern is clear enough. Each time Benešová tries to do the job of a vigorous, imaginative prosecutor, someone's ego gets bruised and she gets slapped down.

Further, Němec has said of Benešová, "She talks like a political leader before elections." He has also called her obsessed with power. The probable cause of the latter statement is Benešová's wish for the Supreme State Attorny's Office to have an independent budget not dependent on the Justice Ministry's — and therefore not subject to political manipulation.

Naturally, Němec would argue, dismissing Benešová has nothing to do with her latest assertion of independence: insisting on prosecuting, and convicting, a serial child molester from Qatar whom Němec had tried to send home scot-free.

Němec would have us believe that the reason Benešová has now been sacked is that she committed a crime. The heinous offense: joking at her son's graduation party in July that a pestering journalist must have been paid to ask his questions by Němec's spokesman, Petr Dimun.