Top brass embarrassed by break-in at military HQ

The new defense minister and the general staff's office have conceded that a decision to remove the military police guard from the military headquarters was wrong after an embarrassing July break-in at the offices on Vítězné náměstí in Prague 6.

"Yes, we consider the decision to withdraw the military police who guarded the seat of general staff in Prague as a bad decision," said Mira Třebická, spokeswoman for the chief of the Czech Army general staff.

Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra said he would reverse the decision, made by predecessor Martin Barták, after saying he did not understand the move and found it surprising.

"It is naturally a shame that the military must not allow to be repeated in the future," Vondra told reporters.

The comments come after Vondra admitted on Czech television that the break-in had occurred while the building was guarded by military staff and not the police, a legacy of Barták's decision in November last year.

It is the first time the building has been broken into in its 73-year history. Military police are investigating the matter.

Despite the concessions, other politicians and commentators were outraged at the incident.

Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) Shadow Defense Minister Petr Hulínský labeled the break-in "scandalous" and criticized Vondra and the top brass of the military for not having made the case public. News about the event was broken by journalists a week after the break-in occurred.

Former Chief of General Staff Jiří Šedivý said he was embarrassed about the case, according to news reports, but he said the protection of the most important information, including that from NATO's headquarters in Brussels, was secure.

Třebická said the only stolen objects were four memorial coins worth 1,000 Kč ($51), while Vondra said it was important that the thieves did not get into the offices of Chief of General Staff Vlastimil Picek.

However, there was media speculation that the real motive behind the break-in was not the theft of coins but classified documents relating to military tenders.

Prime Minister Petr Nečas, meanwhile, said the military police must assess the effectiveness of the security of the general staff of the Czech Army, but said he does not ascribe any great importance to the incident.

Třebická said one of the new measures will be that the building "will no longer be guarded by soldiers from the Prague garrison, but by the military police."

The Chamber of Deputies security committee will ask Picek and Vondra to provide an explanation of the incident, committee Chairman František Bublan (ČSSD) told Radio Česko.

- Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report.

Gabriella Hold can be reached at
ghold@praguepost.com