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Politicians reject reduced immunity

Critics: Lawmakers have more privileges than EU counterparts

By Hilda Hoy
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
June 27th, 2007 issue

Some stripped politicians


Senator, Deputy Prime Minister and Christian Democratic Union head Jiří Čunek
When: February 2007
Accused of: Accepting a bribe
Civic Democratic Deputy Vladimír Doležal
When: December 2005
Accused of: Soliciting a bribe
Member of European Parliament Vladimír Železný
When: October 2005
Accused of: Tax evasion
Civic Democratic Senator Alexandr Novák
When: November 2003
Accused of: Accepting a bribe

Source: www.radio.cz

The long battle to change a law dating back nearly a century hit another snag June 19 when members of Parliament’s lower house rejected a proposal to limit their immunity from criminal prosecution.
The Chamber of Deputies voted against a proposal from the Senate, Parliament’s upper house, that would have limited immunity only to parliamentarians’ statements and actions made during lawmaking sessions. Illegal actions and statements outside of Parliament would have been opened up for prosecution, as is the case in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
The vote was the latest in multiple failed attempts to reduce lawmakers’ immunity, which is among the most forgiving in Europe. The latest battle highlights the delicate balance between shielding lawmakers from politically motivated attacks, while ensuring they don’t abuse that protection.
“There have been 18 proposals to restrict immunity and none of them has passed,” says Jindřiška Syllová, director of the Parliamentary Institute (PI). The PI researches legal issues for Parliament members and their staff.
The current law on parliamentary immunity is more or less unchanged from the first version passed nearly 90 years ago, Syllová says. In 1920, during the period of the First Czechoslovak Republic, politicians passed a wide-reaching immunity law as a reaction to their treatment under Austro-Hungarian rule.
“MPs had a really bad experience in the [Austro-Hungarian] Parliament. After their mandate was over, they were persecuted for their speeches,” she says.
According to that 1920 law and its contemporary version, members of Parliament, the president and judges of the Constitutional Court are exempt from prosecution for any and all crimes committed during their period of political power. The immunity for any offenses committed during a political term continues even once that term is over.
Only if Parliament votes to strip one of its own of this immunity can he or she be charged by police.
Protection of freedom
Immunity for politicians is a longstanding principle in many governments.
In a report written for the Senate’s mandate and immunity committee, Charles University law professor Jan Kysela called parliamentary immunity a “symbolic” concept that dates back to at least 17th-century British government. “The only guarantee of Parliament’s rights could be its autonomy, in which freedom of speech existed,” he wrote.
Syllová agrees. “Immunity is here to protect Parliament,” she says.
But some critics say lawmakers here enjoy too much freedom. Since the early 1990s, various parties and politicians have tried to cinch it, either reducing the types of offenses exempted or ending the right once a political mandate is over.
“We are convinced the scope of immunity is too wide here,” said Green Party (SZ) Deputy Kateřina Jacques, speaking on behalf of her party. “We think [it] is really disproportionate. Immunity should only relate to speeches [in Parliament] and such.”
Syllová speculates that some politicians enter politics “for one particular reason — to have immunity,” but that such blatant abuse is rare.
During the June 19 vote, all the SZ deputies present voted in favor of the Senate proposal to curb immunity.
Studies show that the immunity law is among the most far-reaching in Europe.
“The Czech Republic is one of the countries with the greatest extent of protection for legislators,” Kysela wrote.
In a June 2006 study, Syllová and her colleagues analyzed laws in 21 European countries and in the United States, and found that none guarantees the lifelong amnesty that Czech law does.
For example, in countries such as Hungary, Latvia, Italy and Slovakia, police are allowed to detain the individual if they’re caught in the act of committing a crime. Here, police cannot make an arrest until given permission by Parliament.
Long-fought battle
Attempts at reform have been controversial.
Civic Democratic Party Deputy Marek Benda calls the recent proposal “a mistake. It didn’t reduce immunity, it abolished it.”
Changing the current law could bring the government to a halt, he says. Politicians could accuse their opponents of crimes in order to prevent them from attending key votes. What’s more, if a politician were abruptly removed from his or her post because of a criminal charge, it could wreak political havoc, he says.
But advocates of reduced immunity remain determined. Senator Jaroslav Kubera told Hospodářské noviny June 20 that the upper house would send the proposal back to the Chamber of Deputies without changing any of its terms.
Similar struggles have also erupted recently in Slovakia.
On June 20, that country’s ruling coalition rejected a bid by the opposition to limit immunity only to statements made during parliamentary sessions.
— Naďa Černá and Hela Balínová contributed to this report.

Hilda Hoy can be reached at hhoy@praguepost.com


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