That they abducted and murdered her is my personal opinion. The court sees a different story. It is almost becoming a waste of time to write about small sentences in cases of deliberately wasted lives in the Czech Republic, about courts' lack of will to impose higher penalties. However, the Ústí nad Labem regional court clearly stated this time why it sentenced [Martin Vlk] to 15 years and his two helpers to 10 and nine years, respectively. The court came to the conclusion that the three did not murder [Vlasta Sluťáková in March 2005] but only abducted her, which resulted in her death. All those interested in making careers as murderers should pay close attention. After the Ústí verdict only amateurs would shoot or stab someone. Apparently you have to jump the victim, tie her up, gag her and put something over her head. Then put the victim in the trunk of your car and wait for the oxygen to run out. If by any chance you are stopped by the police, and in case they find the body, no judge would dare sentence you for murder. You've committed no murder; you just wanted to abduct a person and that person failed to handle it. That's the way to go. The judge came to the conclusion that the three men did not commit murder. What was it then — an accident? The state attorney did not appeal immediately. Let's hope she will do so in the time given to her by our law, Verner writes.

The National Party decided to place a monument near the former concentration camp at Lety, saying that it was in fact a labor camp and that history is a question of truth, not interpretation. But a negative public response eventually forced the party to change the text on the stone to a simple "Obětem" (To the Victims), Emanuel Mandler writes in Mladá fronta Dnes Jan. 20.

Nazis had been sending Roma, or Gypsies, to the camp until 1943, when it was closed. By then 326 persons died there in the worst living, nutrition and hygiene conditions, and 600 were transported to die in Auschwitz. The National Party placed the stone by the camp Jan. 15, and the Lety Town Hall removed it Jan. 19. The event nevertheless struck a weak spot in our society: Lety reminds us of our own sins. It wasn't until after the restoration of democracy that people learned about the camp and the fact that a pig farm was built on the site under the communist regime, and that Nazis used Lety to imprison those they considered not fit to live. If the National Party says that it was not a concentration camp but a labor camp, they can find backing in a similar statement made by the president. Both sentiments are evidence of contempt for those who were imprisoned at Lety. How can there be any doubt that such "labor" camps were concentration camps under the Nazis? The Lety events have the character of an appeal, an appeal to understand that at least in death we are all equal and that regardless of what category citizens we are considered, we all have the same right to life, Mandler writes.