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December 5th, 2008

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On the prowl

Stalking is not illegal in the ČR, but the government may follow other EU states by making it a crime

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
May 28th, 2008 issue

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Months before she was beaten to death with a tree branch, 33-year-old Michaela Malinká turned to the police and the media for protection against her former colleague Petr Hanuš, who had been harassing and threatening her for years.

She filed a criminal complaint, which resulted in his conviction of a misdemeanor. Nevertheless, the threats continued.

Last July, Malinká’s mother discovered her battered body outside of Malinká’s Prague–Malešice apartment.

Hanuš, who turned himself over to police shortly after committing the murder, has since received a 17-year prison sentence.

Cases like Malinká’s are not uncommon.

On the afternoon of April 14, a 25-year-old woman was shot to death outside a Prague–Štěrboholy shopping center by her ex-boyfriend. When police closed in on the man hours later, he shot himself in the head. The woman had previously complained to police of being harassed by her future killer.

While exact figures do not exist due to varying classifications of individual crimes, studies show about 8 percent of women and 3 percent of men are victims of stalking in the Czech Republic.

According to European statistics, 2

percent of such cases end in violence or murder.

Although a ubiquitous problem, stalking itself is currently not a crime in the Czech Republic.

Spurred by the recommendations of local NGOs urging the prevention of stalking-related violent crimes, the Government Council for the Equal Rights of Men and Women recommended May 16 that the government draft a bill specifying stalking as a criminal offense.

“The council came to the conclusion that the current law does not offer stalking victims adequate protection,” said Human Rights and Minorities Minister Džamila Stehlíková, who oversees the council.

While anti-stalking measures have existed in the United States since the early 1990s, most European countries have only recently begun addressing the issue, said criminal psychologist Ludmila Čírtková.

In Austria, for example, a law criminalizing stalking has been in place since 2006, while a similar law was passed in Germany in 2007.

While an anti-stalking law was originally included in the 2007 amendment to the Criminal Code, the government ended up excluding the provision, saying further research was needed.

The government has, however, adopted effective legislation to protect the victims of domestic violence. Passed in 2004 and amended in 2007, the law allows police to evict individuals who assault their family members from the joint household for 10 days. Out of the 6,112 cases of domestic violence recorded by police last year, 854 men and eight women were evicted, according to Interior Ministry statistics.

While effectively protecting family members, the domestic abuse law creates a certain paradox, since about 50 percent of stalking cases involve former domestic abuse victims and their estranged spouses.

“Oddly enough, victims who live with their abusive partners have more legal protection than divorced women who end up getting stalked by their former husbands,” said Stehlíková, who expects the proposed law to have preventive effects by limiting the perpetrator’s ability to get near the victim.

Because stalking itself is not currently considered a crime, actions such as the repetitious sending of threatening text messages are treated as petty violations that are often impossible to prosecute.

“This strengthens the perpetrator’s feeling of immunity from prosecution and allows his threatening activity to escalate,” Stehlíková said.

Incessant text messages, phone calls or letters are often just the beginning.

“The danger and length of the victim’s persecution varies from case to case, but there are certain things we know to look out for,” said Petra Vitoušová, director of White Circle of Safety (Bílý kruh bezpečí), an NGO providing aid to crime victims. “Today, we know not to trivialize persecution by a former spouse, especially if the relationship had been abusive. Death threats resulting from long-term stalking should also be given immediate attention.”

Unrequited love was often the impetus for long-term stalking, she added.

A man falls in love with a woman who does not return his sentiments; ignoring this, he creates his own world dominated by the illusion of a long-term relationship with the desired person.

“He invests all his time into seeking her company, watching her and attempting to communicate with her,” Vitoušová said. “These are often the beginnings.”

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com

Reader's comments:

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[13:23 04/06/2008] : Thank you for the consideration of this important topic and the need for the system to take it more seriously.
Your case would be better if you had more data on the problem. You refer to two murders and say cases like this are not uncommon. But then you say there are no statistics on this and add that 8 percent of Czech women are stalked.
As bad as that is, that is quite different from murder, is it not?
Selling newspapers is fine but isn't it better to use the facts and not tabloid tactics?

Kim Spivak
Prague

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