2.4. Victims of Crimes
I. Information on Victims of Crimes
of which
Information and findings on victims of crime in the Czech Republic has not been very systematic, which was also mentioned in the 1999 Report. The police statistics are still the only statistics available containing certain data on the victims of crime.
According to the data from the police statistics, the highest number of victims, both men and women, since 1993, was recorded in 1996, the second highest number was in 2000; on the other hand the number of groups is the lowest number in the course of the years monitored. The number of victims in groups decreased (the numbers of victims in groups have been recorded since 1999) - in 1999 there were 5,105 victims, while in 2000 the number of such victims dropped to 1,349. According to the police statistics, men were victims of robberies,, wilful injuries to health, dangerous threats, and extortion. Women more often than men become victims of moral crimes, in terms of pickpockets there has not been a considerable difference between men and women as victims of crimes. According to the age of victims, persons in the age category 19–30 years were the most frequent victim of a robbery, wilful injury to health, and extortion (in term of extortion the second most frequent group is formed by children aged 7–15 years!); persons aged 41–60 years are the most frequent victim of murders motivated by personal relations and murders and robberies, dangerous treats as well as pickpockets.
Victimological research (i.e. a research concerning victims of crimes) represents one way of obtaining closer knowledge of the size of the population affected by crime. The research data, if the text does not state otherwise, is based on the research documents ”1999 Security Risks” and "Continuous Research of Victimisation and Citizens’ Security Feelings (2000)" (J. Buriánek, UNIVERSITAS, a grant of the Ministry of the Interior). In 1999 the proportion of citizens directly affected by crime slightly decreased from 28 % to 19 % of respondents, but the latest results display an increase to 24 %. The most frequently mentioned offences were thefts from cars or wilful damaging to cars (13 %), burglaries, i.e. thefts of objects from flats, weekend houses, cellars (12 %) and pickpockets or similar thefts in the streets, at work, in public means of transport or similar public facilities (12 %). In the 1999 Report it was also mentioned that according to the data collected from research that three of four victims had notified the police of the crime, while according to the data gathered in 2000 only 53 % of the respondents reported the crimes. A doubt whether the offender would be detected (47 %) and unwillingness to undergo investigation procedures (17 %) were given as the decisive reasons for the failure to report a crime. Almost half of those who reported a crime to the police, considered their reaction to be fair and adequate to the situation. Only one in five people reported a negative experience (unwillingness or no response).
II. Attitude of the Public Towards Crime (research findings)
Various research involving public opinion showed that the respondents considered crime to be the most actual social problem, thus it occupied first place among all other problems. The research done in November 1998 indicates, and the latest results confirm the trend, that a portion of the public takes into account economic problems as well. Therefore crime issues fell to third place (17 %) behind unemployment (26 %) and economic development (20 %).
The research indicates and thus confirms the findings from the previous surveys, that citizens considered the security situation in the state to be ‘not very good’ (about 75 %). In terms of the security in the place of residence about 30 % of respondents perceived this situation as not being very good. The existing discrepancy between the feeling of being safe at home and in the street has been confirmed. The inhabitants of Prague and of smaller cities felt safer in their homes in the evening. Generally, both t parameters illustrate the trend towards a reduction of concerns – in 1995, 68 % of respondents felt secure or very secure, in 1998, 82 % of respondents, in 1999, 86 %, and in 2000 the number increased to 94 %. In 1995, 41 % of respondents felt safe in the surroundings of their home, in 1998, 59 %, in 1999 62 %, and in 2000 67 % of respondents felt safe. We can take into consideration the fact that a part of the population seems to adapt to new security conditions. This adaptation can be seen in respondents’ subjective evaluation of crime development trends which are most favourably evaluated in relation to the place where they live. The reaction of people relating to perceived risks has remained active, which means that people avoid risky places and certain groups of people, or they are often accompanied by another person, etc. There has not been any tendency towards civic ”self-assisting” activities. Citizens consider vandalism by bored young people at a loose end to be a problem, on the hand they do not perceive prostitution as an immediate source of problems.
Opinions of people relating to the actual risks have not seen any considerable shift. A similar ”extent” of big concerns was registered; (by the proportion of ”big concerns”, i.e. answers 8-10 on a ten point scale):
1998 | 1999 | 2000 | |
car thefts | 41 | 44 | 42 (% of the total No. of respondents) |
burglary of a house | 40 | 38 | 41 |
robbery | 17 | 21 | 18 |
nuisance | 17 | 20 | 17 |
burglary of a flat | 11 | 13 | 13 |
rape | 11 | 16 | 11 |
murder | 10 | 14 | 9 |
sexual harassment | 12 | 14 | 9 |
The sequence of risks by probability, can be summarised as follows: (the missing data is marked by ”x”):
1998 | 1999 | 2000 | |
car theft | x | 29 | 32 |
burglary (both house and flat) | 20 | 26 | 28 |
mugging (in public, in the street) | 17 | 24 | x |
nuisance (by juveniles, etc.) | 13 | 13 | x |
raid (robbery with violence) | 12 | 9 | 9 |
physical assault, killing | 7 | 10 | 8 |
rape | 6 | 6 | 4 |
murder | 4 | 5 | x |
The data relating to the average concern of car theft are, to a certain degree, misleading, because only 76 % of respondents owned a car in 1999.
The significance of the surrounding environment in terms of child development (from the point of view of respondents) is confirmed by the data showing the feelings that children and youth might be endangered. Respondents expressed the concerns that their child (aged 5–7) could be a victim of a car accident (55 %), could become a drug addict (40 %), or a member of a gang or even a street gang (33 %).
The long-term researches of the IVVM agency have shown that the trust in social institutions has been stabilised, although we can observe a positive development in recent years. In 1998, 37 % of respondents trusted the police, in 1999 41 % and in 2000 44 %., A similar trend was recorded in terms of courts, that were trusted in 1998 by 26 % of respondents, in 1999 by 27 % and in 2000 by 32 % of respondent. UNIVERSITAS research brought the following values: full trust or certain trust in the police was declared by 59 %, in the courts by 50 %, in the state prosecutor’s offices 41 %, in prisons 27 %, in the Ministry of the Interior 19 %, and in the SIS 20 % of respondents. In terms of trusting the police the respondents from the big cities in the Czech Republic (besides Prague), whose attitudes are more critical, started to differ in their views. The highest satisfaction rate is in North Moravia and South Bohemia, while in Prague it is the worst of all. Attitudes towards individual aspects of police work have not changed very much, people only criticised the ”lower visibility” of the police (68 % of respondents fully agree or rather agreed that they only met policemen in their street very rarely). 45 % of respondents conceded the police professional competences 30 % respondents believed that the majority of policemen are interested in performing their service well, on the other hand 46 % of respondents thought that it was very easy to find a job with the police. The estimates concerning successful achievement of the police in solving individual kinds of crime show a certain degree of trust in police capabilities (for example, 59 % of respondents thought that the police would be successful eliminating murders, 56 % of respondents believed the police when solving robberies in the post offices and banks, 53 % trusted the police in solving rapes, and 34 % of respondents were convinced, that the police would be successful in eliminating car thefts).
Furthermore, it can be stated that in terms of risk management citizens’ reliance on themselves or better technical security (of property and personal security) is becoming rather typical. Respondents try, especially in the evening, to avoid suspicious persons or empty places. It has been shown that people would welcome more ”aggressive” action by the police with respect to threats endangering children and youth and in terms of ecological threats. The results also show quite a high tendency toward punishment. A tiny erosion of values and principles can be also seen in the fact, that at least each tenth (or rather each fifth) citizen becomes an object of violence, either physical or psychical. The proportion of car accidents is also very high.
For more details see Annex to this Report - Buriánek, J.: "Security Risks and Their Perception by the Czech Public "
III. Measures Adopted
Courts consistently respect the legal right of a victim in penal proceedings (victims of crime) stipulated in the provisions of Sec. 43 and following of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Act No. 141/1961 Coll., on Proceeding in Courts of Justice, as amended) and in the cases where a victim suffered financial damage, proved by examination, they imposed an obligation to pay for such damage caused on the accused person. The state may, in exceptional cases, bear the costs relating to the provision of financial aid to victims of crime subject to conditions stipulated in Sec. 12 (3) of Act No. 209/1997 Coll., on Provision of Financial Aid to Victims of Crimes and on Amendments of Some Other Related Acts. The assessment of efficiency of the aforementioned Act No. 209/1997 Coll. should especially improve the advice provided to victims of crimes pursuant to Sec. 14 thereof. According to some signals (however not verified), while instructing a victim an emphasis is put on an incorrect interpretation explaining that financial aid is under all circumstances ”a repayable loan”. Insufficient or incorrect information probably results in a low number of applicants for such financial aid (in 2000, only 62 applications were recorded). The Ministry of the Interior submitted the assessment of efficiency of the aforementioned Act to the Government, just for the information of the Government members, on 26 February 20001. Within the draft amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Criminal Code and some other acts this act should be changed as well, e.g. the maximum amount of financial aid provided to victims of crimes should be increased and a victim of a could claim an attorneys ex offo provided that such a request is justified by the financial situation of the victim.
The amendment to Criminal Code No. 140/1961 Coll., as amended, which newly regulates the signs of rape as well as punishment for rapes should also better and more consistently protect victims of crimes.
2.5. Crimes Against Property
I. Development and Characteristic Features
Criminal Statistics
Court Statistics
The criminal statistics results are not directly comparable with those from the Ministry of Justice , which is responsible for the State Prosecutor’s Office and court statistics. This is caused by time differences. In some cases, there are differences of several years between the termination of the actual case in individual phases of prosecution. The police statistics record the cases at their very beginning, while the court statistics record them once they are closed. Another reason may be the fact that the criminal statistics also record crimes committed by an unknown offender. Also the statistics cannot be compared because the Act Sections used for individual crime categories do not always correspond. (For example frauds under Sec. 250 of the Criminal Code are in the court statistics assigned under Chapter Nine of the Criminal Code as ”crimes against Property) whereas in the police statistics some of them will be included in the category ”Economic Crimes”. According to the rules of police statistics, for example, ”fraud” will be included in economic crimes in a case where an offence was committed by an individual or a group of individuals who have regular access to the facility attacked (employees or similar individuals). The same applies to the case where a suspect is in a contractual relationship with a legal entity attacked.
The number of ascertained crimes against property decreased slightly, however, the number of cleared up crimes as well as the total detection rate declined as well. The falling trend in burglary continued, and accounted for 26 %. The decline in the number of ascertained common thefts was recorded and accounted for 63 % of the crimes against property.
In terms of crime location, the number of crimes against property decreased in all regions, particularly in the regions most affected by crime – North Moravia, Prague, South Moravia and North Bohemia. Despite this recorded decline these regions remain the regions with the highest number of burglaries. With respect to this kind of crime, Prague occupies first place followed by Central Bohemia
There has been a sustained downward trend in the number of flat burglaries ascertained since 1994. This reduction has been affected by preventative measures as well as increasing protection of property by citizens. However, this development was accompanied by a decline in the number of offences cleared up.
In 2000, the police statistics started for the first time to differentiate between burglaries to flats in blocks of flats and burglaries to family houses; in 1999 these two kinds of burglaries were recorded as one statistical item. Most often burglars go after money, jewellery, antiquities, and electronic appliances, and recently also after weapons. This trend is documented by the high value of damage ascertained (damages caused by burglaries to flats reached the amount of CZK 447,687,000, and to family houses CZK 278,392,000). This kind of crime shows more and more signs of organised crime. Criminal groups have a steady hierarchy from persons who case the places to the persons who sell the stolen things obtained. The sale of stolen things is often implemented through second hand shops and pawnshops. Articles of art are frequently stolen to the order of a foreign customer. Offenders very often use stolen weapons to commit other crimes of violence. The ways to get into flats and family houses are very diversified. According to information available to the police there are more offenders who have a deep knowledge of the work of the security services.
The decline in the number of ascertained break-ins into weekend houses and cottages also continues. The structure of offenders has not changed, coming largely from the ranks of repeated offenders who steal things mainly for their personal use. A further group of thieves is interested in valuables and antique furniture committing such crimes largely ”to order”.
The number of burglaries to shops declined, while burglaries of other facilities remained the same since these facilities are not well secured against burglars. The trend, which started in 1999, of so called ”blitz break-ins” has continued (Those involved thefts of the most valuable things from a shop window and disappear in a few seconds). Break-ins into money vaults remain a problem; these are usually carefully planned thefts.
The number of common thefts recorded by the police stagnated and was accompanied by stagnation in the number of offences and detection rate. The police recorded a moderate decline in the number of thefts from cars and thefts of motorcycles (however, the police in Prague recorded a several fold higher number of such thefts than was recorded in other regions in the Czech Republic – according to information from Prague policemen cars are stolen especially in the outskirts of Prague). A slight reduction in the number of motorcycle thefts is accompanied by the decrease of damage ascertained (CZK –580,026 000). The offenders were both Czech citizens and foreigners and the majority of thefts are well organised. Stolen vehicles are transported abroad or, after getting the required documents (a foreign certificate of roadworthiness, purchase agreement, customs clearance, etc.), are registered in the Czech Republic. The offenders try to get a vehicle with it’s original keys and genuine documents. The police can detect cases where a stolen car is registered again. Using the information from the police and qualified estimates it is possible to state that about one third of cases are insurance frauds, for example a camera system often shows that a missing vehicle was never parked at the place indicated. Stolen vehicles usually leave our country with altered ”identification” very promptly. According to the police’s records there was a lower number of stolen bicycles. The number of pickpocket offences has remained stable in the Czech Republic. It should however be taken into account that the true data on pickpocket offences remains at the latent level.
In the field of cultural heritage crime there were not considerable qualitative or quantitative changes; among monuments, the most frequently affected are church facilities, and the same applies to thefts from cemeteries (including thefts of bars from cemetery entrance gates, sculptures or stone ornaments); in terms of the way such crimes are committed and in what objects the offenders are interested in there have not been any changes. Insufficient or missing photo-documentation remains a problem Such offences are to a large extent serial and well organised (especially in Central Bohemia, North Bohemia and East Bohemia) with works of art remaining the focus of interest – sculptures, paintings, liturgical utensils, weapons, porcelain and collection of works of art. Customs officers detected 21 cases (17 in 1999) of illegal import or export of antiquities and other articles of art having a high cultural value, in particular sacral objects and objects related to funerals. In total, 92 (-24 crimes) thefts in facilities containing antiquities and articles of art occurred with damage amounting to CZK 185 million (CZK -348,000). There were 328 (-151 crimes) burglaries of buildings containing antiquities and articles of art with damage reaching CZK 41.534 million (- CZK 4.812 million). There is inestimable damage caused by the illegal export of archive documents and rare prints. The police are getting more information on looting of archaeological spots. Such criminal offences are perfectly organised and illegal export of objects of cultural heritage is well ”paid”. A specialised team of the Central Bohemian and North Bohemian police detected a gang of thieves. 12 thieves and 9 receivers were accused, in house and flat searches 804 articles of art were recovered, the value of which was about CZK 20 million.
The findings resulted from UNIVERSITAS research show that people are mainly concerned by car thefts (42 %), burglaries in houses (and flats) when the owners are not at home (41 %), pickpockets, thefts of handbags or things from shops, restaurants, etc (41 %).
In total, 26,065 persons were lawfully sentenced for crimes against property (Sec. 247,248, 250, 251 of the Criminal Code) (41,2 %, in1999 43,1 %), which represents a decline of 925 persons.
II. Measures Adopted
Apart from other things, sufficient information on the methods to secure and protect property provided by the Preventative Information Groups of the Czech Police contributes to the decline of detected crimes against property. Similar information, advice and mainly lists of certified manufacturers are published on the web sites of the Ministry of the Interior and the Czech Police.
Through Resolution No. 1044, dated on 23 October 2000, the Government adopted ”The Updated Strategy on Combating Organised Crime” which contains individual steps to be taken. The following assignments were required in the field of crimes against property: to conceptually bring about the elimination of criminal activities affecting cultural heritage and to prepare and implement, on an ongoing basis, legislative and organisational measures to prevent the registration of stolen vehicles.
The co-operation among ministries involved in the Integrated System of Protection of Cultural Heritage Movables continued. The government by its resolution No. 849 from 16 December 1998 took cognisance of the Report on Meeting Government Resolution No. 285 from 9 May 1996 related to the system of protection of the Czech cultural heritage movables and required the Minister of Culture, in co-operation with the Ministers of the Interior and Finance, to develop and submit to the Government by 30 June 2001 the Report on Meeting Assignments arising from the Integrated System of Protection of Cultural Heritage Movables.
The Ministry of Culture continued to finance security systems to secure the facilities holding collections of works of art, cultural monuments and articles having cultural value. (The aim was to secure museums and galleries established by the Ministry of Culture, District Councils and municipalities, to secure cultural monuments and a number of church facilities).
The Ministry of Culture inspected 10 organisations, 3 entities received penalties. In many cases articles of cultural value are exported in large quantities, when application is presented by private individuals (not entrepreneurs), even repeatedly, although it is obvious that such exports are organised for sale purposes. The Ministry of Culture notified the Czech Police about several cases involving large quantities of articles.
A model application for the System Recording the Articles of Art was demonstrated at the INVEX exhibition. This application allows the transfer of the searching system to Internet. The pilot operations were commenced on 1 March 2001.
The duties of the owners of collections of works of art concerning recording and treatment of them are stipulated by Act No. 122/2000 Coll., on the Protection of Museum Collections and on amendments to other related acts.
A search system ”Search for Motor Vehicles” was placed on Internet.
Through the Interpol search system, which involves 16 European countries, access to the database of stolen motor vehicles is possible.
The amendment to Act No. 71/1994 Coll., on Sale and Exports of Articles of Cultural Value (submitted to the Government on 31 March.2001) lays down, in comparison with the current Act, inspection activities of the Ministry of Culture, it clarifies the coordination of customs bodies regarding the exports of articles having cultural value, and provides for their rights to immediately apply a relevant protective measure, and stipulates brand new instruments to preserve the most endangered types of articles having cultural value, and prohibits export, for a definitive period, of a defined group of articles on the basis of a protective measure adopted by the Government’s Regulation, (similar to Sec. 65 of Act No. 62/2000 Coll., on some measures concerning imports and exports and on licensing proceedings and on the amendment to other related acts.).
2.6. Economic Crime, Corruption
I. Development and Characteristic Features
Criminal Statistics
Court Statistics
persons sentenced 1,492 (+557, + 59.5 % )
(Sec. 118 - 152 of the Criminal Code.)
The criminal statistics results are not directly comparable with those from the Ministry of Justice s, which is responsible for the State Prosecutor’s Office and court statistics. This is caused by time differences. In some cases, there are differences of several years between the termination of the actual case in individual phases of prosecution. The police statistics record the cases at their very beginning, while the court statistics record them once they are closed. Another reason may be the fact that the criminal statistics also record crimes committed by unknown offenders. Also the statistics cannot be compared because the Act Sections used for individual crime categories do not always correspond.
The number of economic crimes ascertained, which had increased on a long-term basis, declined in the year monitored. This decline is accompanied by a higher number of persons prosecuted (the reason can be seen as better detection of organised groups where more than one persons participate in a crime, and also in more accurate statistical records – in the previous periods each offence was recorded independently for each offender - e.g. while protecting pirate CDs). The detection rate in this area has remained very high. In terms of the year when a crime was actually committed more than 30 % of the economic crimes committed in 1999 were cleared up, more than 26 % in 2000, more than 15 % in 1998, and almost 13 % in 1997 – the similar break down could be seen in 1999, of course with a one year shift. In terms of the time when a certain economic crime started, about 18 % of economic crimes recorded were commenced in 2000 while 82 % were commenced in the previous years - almost 28 % in 1999, more than 18 % in 1998, 14 % in 1997 and 10 % in 1996. For example, taking into account crimes of breaches of the duty to administer another’s property (the damage caused by this kind of crime accounted for 68.8 %), the majority of such offences started in 1995 (18,5 %), followed by years 1996 (17,7 %), 1994 (16,5 %), 993 (14,4 %), and 1997 (13 %). There are probably many reasons why such kinds of crime are not detected faster: insufficient and late audits in the relevant institutions, insufficient personnel capacity for performing audits, not enough competent people involved in criminal prosecution, and legislative barriers preventing closer co-operation of the individual bodies involved. To response to unlawful conduct at its very beginning would represent an important preventative step. In terms of occupations of economic crime offenders they are most frequently entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals. The second largest category is represented by people who are recorded in police statistics and no employment is indicated (according to police information in this category there are mainly unemployed people who lost their jobs once they had become crime suspects). Considering the crime ”breaches of the duty to administer another’s property”, which caused the highest damage within economic crimes, the most frequent offenders are managements’ members and financial managers.
Despite the decline in the numbers of economic crimes ascertained, the damage resulting from this kind of crime increased markedly. The proportion of economic crime damage ascertained in the damage caused by total crime is 80.1 % (without the Agrobanka and Komerèní banka, a.s. cases mentioned below this proportion would have accounted for 58.7 %), however the share of economic crimes ascertained in the number of total ascertained crimes accounts for only 9.6 %. The police recorded 242 economic crimes with damage amounting to CZK 10 million and higher per each case. If, for example, in 1999 a crime ”breaches of the duty to administer another’s property” accounted for 12.5 % of the total damage caused by economic crime, in 2000 the value reached 68,8 %.Without the two cases mentioned below the damage ascertained would have decreased by 15 %. Since 1993 there has been a 104.2 % increase in the number of economic crimes ascertained while the damage increased by 1,106.4 %.
Two detected cases considerably contributed to the increase in the damage since the damage caused by them reached about CZK 33 billion. We are talking about two banks -Agrobanka and Komerèní banka, a.s. - that provided documentary credits to B.C.L. Trading GmbH (11 persons were accused at the end of 2000). Among other cases the following ones can be mentioned: Moravia banka (11 persons prosecuted, 2 in custody), Banka Skala (2 persons - proposal to bring charges), H-System (7 persons prosecuted by the end of 2000, l person in custody), SORRENA INVEST (1 person prosecuted).
Although the relevant authorities make efforts to eliminate the roots of the growth of serious economic crime, which are described in many documents relating to this kind of crime, the current results are not satisfactory (one of the reasons may be insufficient specialisation of the criminal proceeding bodies, insufficient equipment, or a permanent lack of relevant experts). Generally, a quality legal regulation is a prerequisite for the efficient response of the state to any crime in terms of prevention as well as with regards to the required degree of criminal repression. Other equally important measures consist of sufficient and early control systems, in appropriate economic instruments, business ethics, etc. As the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office states co-called ”tunelling” (transferring money from profitable as well as unprofitable economic and legal entities) cannot always be detected and documented in such a way as to prove a crime. The valid legal regulations do not always cover all the range of conduct in an economic area in order to be able to interpret it as criminal, the existence of a number of objective and subjective factors remains a problem (e.g. the aforementioned lack of relevant experts) Criminal proceedings bodies are burdened by many cases including those which should be solved by with the help of other authorities. Another problem is the situation when lodging complaints to criminal proceedings bodies is motivated by an attempt to avoid a civil suit (such complaints are lodged also by state bodies). Insufficient regulation concerning the obligation to maintain secrecy and the position of a tax administrator are also being discussed. The issue is being solved by several ministries and the Government should receive the results in the first half of 2001.
Frauds (39 %) still account for the largest portion of economic crime. Frauds relating to manipulation of funds have prevailed followed by frauds caused by concluding fraudulent business contracts and ”purchasing” goods without any intention to pay invoices. There has not been any change in frauds concerning seller-buyer relations – businesses do not pay sufficient attention to forged documents. According to information available to the police this kind of crime is very often organised when offenders find a so-called ”white horse” then his/her task is to pick up goods and deliver it to an unknown person. Cash payments are also linked to some crimes – robbery, theft, embezzlement and tax curtailment, etc. Insurance and credit frauds display a permanent increase. It is difficult to prove crimes connected with truck transport abroad, since the crimes are often committed outside the territory of the Czech Republic. Shortcomings were detected in insurance agreements, mainly in agreements for exports. Crimes of applying for a bank loan based on a fictitious business plan, non existing companies, forged documents or overvalued collaterals have continued. Such a loan is usually provided for a commission. The problems of withdrawing money from the bank accounts using forged identity cards also continued. There are still problems related to misuse of payment cards, although this kind of crime was partially eliminated by introduction of obligatory PIN codes and the banking association adopted measures to prevent manipulation with cash machines. Unauthorised copying (skimming) of payment card magnetic codes containing information on a client and his/her account has become a serious problem recently There are still problems to detect and document follow up crimes – organisers and their assistants.
Offences of tax curtailment rank among serious economic crimes as they cause much damage. Especially tax curtailment with indirect taxes should be mentioned, since such taxes considerably impact payments transferred to the state budget. Misconduct of accounting procedures, insufficient accounting receipts, failure to transfer statutory social and health insurance contribution and curtailment of similar mandatory dues cannot be omitted. The experiences of the Czech Police in detecting and proving such crimes show problems connected with excessive tax deductions and unauthorised drawing from the state budget (organised by fraudulent chains of companies with the aim of claiming or reducing the tax base for income taxes) – the close co-operation of the Czech Police with tax authorities is required in this area. According to the findings of the Czech Police and Customs Administration tax manipulations relating to the production, distribution, transport, and export of spirits still rank among the most serious crimes. (There have been changes in production countries – pure spirit does not originate from EU countries but from South-East Asia; customs officers captured a delivery of pure spirit which could case damage of CZK 8 million). The same applies to cigarettes (customs officers seized more than 35.5 million cigarettes without duty stamps which was 62 % more than in 1999). Misuse of imported technical petrol in the year monitored remained a problem. Such petrol is used for illegal, untaxed production of fuels. Production and distribution of products made of crude oil is another area of delinquent taxes. Such products are mixed with diesel fuel and hydrocarbons having the similar composition as diesel fuel. A specific area is represented by pure spirit imports; through the illegally imported fermented spirit the ”black” profits of CZK 2 million are obtained per truck tank-. Customs and tax regulations were infringed with regards to agricultural products (e.g. while importing sugar and foods containing sugar, cheese, granulated teas, vegetable and fruit juices, double invoicing was detected in connection with imports of meat.).
The majority of commercial frauds detected by the customs administration have a fiscal impact. In total, customs bodies collected CZK 263 billion, mainly from VAT, excise taxes, and custms duties.
According to the information and findings of the police and detected cases, financial frauds rank among the most serious ones in society. In a number of cases there are close connections between foreign and domestic organised groups (the aforementioned case of provided documentary credits on Komerèní banka can be taken as a typical example; there was also a big case relating to breaches to administer another’s property, making ”hidden” loans, etc.). With respect to the above, there are four basic crime offences – misuse of information in business relations (Sec. 128 of the Criminal Code), embezzlement (Sec. 248 of the Criminal Code), breaches of the duty to administer another’s property (Sec. 255 of the Criminal Code) and defrauding a creditor (Sec. 256 of the Criminal Code). These offences account only for 19.6 % of the total number of crimes ascertained, however the damage caused by above crimes reached 75.6 %!
Mismanagement of savings and credit co-operatives is considered to be another serious issue. To date investigations have brought to light the fact that a range of official representatives of credit co-operatives participated in non-standard financial transactions (for example money transfers to subsidiaries, purchase of worthless shares to their portfolios for the purse to draw money, imprudent loans made to members as well as non-members of credit co-operatives). Furthermore the management used direct deposits to equip their offices, to pay for advertisements, etc.
Purchasing shares from the voucher privatisation remains a steady problem as a range of entities purchase such shares without a valid licence. Offers relating to intermediation of trades in derivatives (both commodity and financial derivatives) has been rising however the fact is that the Commission for Securities has not issued any licences for trading in derivatives. According to the information acquired by the police cases of stealing from the accounts maintained with the Securities Centre are not isolated. Misuse of confidential information (i.e. insider trading) is actual especially in connection with obligatory opening of closed-end funds and with the change of investment funds into open-end funds.
The situation in the area of “money laundering” has remained at the level of the previous year. The banking sector is used for transferring huge amounts of money via accounts opened to third parties when the banks in the third countries are used. The number of persons who are professionally involved in money laundering has increased Among the most frequently employed forms of ”money laundering” are so-called rounds – implementation followed by laundering ”dirty” money. This method is used in connection with stock exchange trades, trades via the Securities Centre, adding such ”dirty” funds to money gained legally. The Internet allows the fast execution of financial transactions without any limitation of amounts transferred.
On the basis of an agreement between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Interior a special unit of the Czech Police – the Service for Revealing of Corruption and Major Economic Crime (hereinafter called ”the SRCMEC”) receives complaints concerning so called unusual transactions supported by the relevant information relating to the respective legal entities or private individuals.
The SRCMEC accepted from the Ministry of Finance’s Financial Analysis Department (hereinafter ”the FAD” 104 notifications of unusual transactions of which 90 % cases were evaluated as a crime of tax curtailment or unauthorised business execution respectively. In the Czech Police’s opinion the tax authorities should start tax audits in the course of investigations done by the FAD which would speed up criminal proceedings since the calculation of taxes which should be paid is required as evidence. The FAD received from the financial institutions a total of 1,910 (1.699 in 1999, i.e. +12 %) notifications of unusual transactions and the Department informed the bodies responsible for penal proceeding of 104 ( 46 in 1999, i.e. +120 %) suspects of crime. According to the findings gathered by the FAD the potential danger of misuse of electronic transfers has been increasing. The transport of cash abroad has risen and recently there have been notifications relating to suspicious transactions executed by insurance companies.
Apart from frauds, embezzlement, despite its decline, has remained one of the most frequent crimes, mainly in the field of leasing and unauthorised use of another person’s money.
The Czech Police recorded a growth in suspicion of corruption or other crimes committed by public officials respectively (Sec. 158 of the Criminal Code which is predominantly connected with crimes committed under Sec. 250; these are the case of manipulating audit protocols, issuing fictitious invoices, unfavourable lease contracts, etc.). This highly dangerous conduct exceeds the limits of economic crime and involves abuse of power by a public official, bribe-taking, bribe-giving, breaches of the duty to administer another’s property, unauthorised use of information in business relations, etc. The consequences are the same as in the case of serious economic crime. Corrupt behaviour is very difficult to prove by typical police methods, which is not true only in the Czech Republic. According to the analysis performed by the SRCMEC all forms of corrupt conduct are becoming more intensive. Its detection arises from the intensity of controls made by relevant state bodies, however a high level of latency is supposed despite the higher number of such crimes ascertained. An increasing number of civil servants prosecuted for abuse of power by a state official has been recorded, mainly at the regional level. The cases included, for example, manipulation with audit protocols and bribe-taking, unfavourable lease contracts of movable as well as immovable assets, etc. The public negatively perceives corrupt conduct of the members of the Czech Police – see Chapter 2.3.4.
Crime relating to intellectual property is also considered to be a serious offence. It covers rights to trademarks, business names, and protected designations of origin, industrial rights and copyrights and the area of computer crime. Trading in forged and pirate goods (pirate musical CD and MC recordings, clothes and shoes marked by protected trademarks without any authorisation; according to customs officers most cases related to the forged ADIDAS trademark). This kind of crime causes high losses to producers, shop owners who respect laws, and to copyright owners, it also deceives consumers. The quality of forged products has increased, offences of this type have moved mainly to border regions. This kind of crime is organised at the international level with nationals of Vietnam, China, and Bulgaria being involved. Observation of intellectual property rights is an essential precondition for decisions by foreign companies operating in the Euro-Atlantic region to make investments into up-to-date technologies in the Czech Republic. As a consequence of slow and inefficient enforcement of intellectual property rights, the Czech Republic is currently being threatened by international disputes in the World Trade Organisation, which could heavily impact on the national economy in the form of payments to the intellectual property right owners for loss of their profit. Czech nationals are hired, without legal job contracts of course, to sell illegal goods. In many cases, they are not aware who their employer is, and thus it is difficult to prove that they knew about the illegal origin of the products. There are brand new findings concerning goods for sale via the Internet. The majority of forged products are imported to the Czech Republic from abroad. More intensive inspections of market places, performed by Trade Licence and Tax Authority officers, could partially solve this problem. The original legal provisions allowed the officers of the Czech Audit Office (hereinafter ”the CAO”) to suspend the sale of forged products only, the current amendment (adopted in 2000) allows them to confiscate such products and once it is verified the products are really forged or they are non-permitted impostors to destroy them. This amendment vested the ÈOI with powers of control to verify whether consumers are not deceived by being offered and sold products or goods (except food) infringing some intellectual property rights. This amendment also contributes to limiting illicit imports. The number of crimes related to infringement of copyright decreased markedly with the number of persons prosecuted being constant. This trend was recorded in connection with infringements of trademarks, where the number of prosecuted persons increased. The Draft Act on Trade Licences for so-called free business, which is being prepared, should regulate the more efficient protection of copyright. The total damage caused by offences of infringement of copyright reached CZK 12.068 million, and the damage caused by infringement of trademarks CZK 5.227 million.
Computer (IT) crime, including information technology and the Internet, is a specific form of a crime with high latency. It concentrates especially on unauthorised use and dissemination of computer programmes - pursuant Sec. 152 (software piracy). Dissemination of pornography and all forms of extremism via the Internet is considered a very serious crime. In statistics such offences are often concealed, as mentioned in the 1999 report, behind the crimes of frauds in the financial and banking sector, embezzlement or tax offences where unauthorised access to a computer or computer programmes is a means to carry out another offence. The punishment of crimes committed via the Internet is still complicated by difficulties in detecting a specific person and by insufficient access of the Czech Police units to the Internet network. Computer crime represents a serious world wide problem. World wide losses caused by hackers or by thefts of data via web networks reached over USD 20 billion.
Another, very special, form of economic crime is crime in the area of telecommunications committed both by individuals and organised groups. For example, recently such offences were committed through the sale of illegal calls (Call-House) when with the help of illegally established telephone lines the calls were connected (for a fee of course) to the third parties without paying a fee to the relevant operator (the MDS detected: 40 cases of unauthorised connection to another person’s telephone line, 177 cases of unauthorised connection to automatic telephones, 23 cases of direct connection to the automatic telephone lines, and 16 cases of unauthorised connection to public phones using coins with the total damage amounting to CZK 20 million). The cases related to ”card public phones” and to usage of card telephone simulators (so called endless telephone cards) – the damage of 138 ascertained offences amounted to more than CZK 12 million. Another serious case is a computer application which can change the settings of the Internet connection without informing the customer. The legislative environment is lagging behind the technological development (for example a phone card is not protected by the current legal regulations). Therefore, it is difficult to punish the user as well as distributors and producers of fake phone cards.
Environmental offences, such as storage, transport and disposal of waste, unauthorised production of timber and its export, and water conservation (e.g. large environmental breakdowns are hazardous and could cause damage to the quality of surface and ground water) are still highly latent. The number of offences endangering the environment (Sec. 181a of the Criminal Code) with respect to illegal production of timber increased. The damage is not cased only to ”wood” itself but such crimes predominately endanger the environment. There have been also infringements of the international CITIES Agreement on Protecting Endangered Species of Plant and Animal Realms (customs officers detected 44 attempts to transport animals as well as plants illegally where the customs regulations were violated directly in the specialised shops). Release of oil as well of other products into the air, soil, and water has been an ongoing problem. 28 crimes hazardous to the environment (wilful damage to the environment) were recorded with the damage amounting to CZK 1,567 thousand (CZK -14,964 thousand) and 18 crimes (+6 crimes) hazardous to the environment /negligent damage), where the claims reached CZK 13,312 thousand (CZK +13.172 thousand). The detection rate of other kinds of crime such as unauthorised business activities, activities detrimental to customers, leasing, lotteries, gambling and bets has remained the same as in previous years. Games of a pyramid nature are not often possible to detect and they are assessed in many cases as legal businesses. Furthermore, the crime of poaching has increased.
The Investigation bureaux investigated a total of 22,240 (-2,337) economic crimes (17,071 new cases and 5,169 cases from the previous years), 7,717 of them (8,141 in 1999) were terminated by lodging charges. As of 31 December 2000, 4,042 offences were not closed; 1,786 of them had been commenced, while 2,256 had not been commenced yet. The Committee for Protection of the Economic Interests of the Czech Republic 10 submitted (through the State Prosecutor’s Offices) to the Investigation Bureaux 107 cases. 58 cases were closed – 45 cases were suspended under Sec. 159 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 4 cases were discontinued under Sec. 172 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and charges were lodged in 9 cases; 1 case was transferred to the SRCMEC to be investigated there. The other 48 cases are being verified by the Investigation Bureaux, in 17 cases the offenders were charged with a crime under Sec. 160 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The UNIVERSITAS research showed that fraud received priority – 34 % of respondents - among concerns relating to economic crimes (e.g. frauds in investment companies or travel agencies may affect many of their clients). The question whether the police should monitor, investigate and prosecute e.g. copying of computer programmes, games or CDs 23 respondents answered ”yes always”, 28 % - ”yes, if a victim minds this kind of crime” and an unbelievable 41 % of respondents stated that they would rather not. Respondents expressed their concerns relating co car thefts (42 %), burglaries to their house (flat) when they are not present (41 %), pickpockets, and thefts of handbags or thing from shops, restaurants (41 %). According to regular surveys performed by IVVM corruption remains a problem. It is steadily on the first place (80 % of respondents).
1,492 persons were lawfully sentenced for economic offences (Sec. 118 - 152 of the Criminal Code.) (2.4 %; 1.4 % in 1999), which accounts for a rise of 557 persons. Most persons were lawfully sentenced, as in 1999, for crimes of the infringement of rights relating to trademarks, commercial names and protected designations of origin (612; in 1999 481; Sec. 150 of the Criminal Code.), followed by infringements of copyright (176; Sec. 152 of the Criminal Code.) and 169 (240) persons for curtailment of taxes, fees and similar mandatory dues (Sec. 148 of the Criminal Code).
116 persons (110 in 1999) were sentenced for bribery (Sec.160 - 162 of the Criminal Code).
II. Measures Adopted
Major Economic Crimes and Corruption
One of the most important areas is cooperation of the police with special departments established at offices of Chief State Prosecutors. These departments were set up to supervise pre-trial procedures related to economic crime cases. The amendment to Act No. 23/1994 Coll., on the procedural rules of the state prosecutor’s office, on the establishment of branches of the state prosecutor’s office and on legal acts performed by legal probationers, allowed to establish the branches of the Offices of Chief State Prosecutors and the amendment also regulates the factual duties and responsibilities of Chief State Prosecutors with respect to economic and financial crimes.
The Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office drew up a draft Memorandum on Cooperation, with respect to major economic and financial crimes, between the Investigation Bureau of the Czech Republic and the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office. The Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office also drew up "The Special Report” containing evaluation of cooperation between the state prosecutor’s office and special police forces involved in the detection of major economic crimes.
The Czech Police – the Investigation Bureau of the Czech Republic issued Director’s Instruction No. 10 dated 16 October 2000, which lays down the obligation to report major economic crimes and crimes committed by a public official and to inform the relevant department for revealing of corruption and major economic crime of the Investigation Bureau of the Czech Republic without undue delay.
Since 1 September 2000 special departments of the Investigation Bureau of the Czech Republic have been established to facilitate cooperation with the Service for Revealing of Corruption and Major Economic Crime, the Organised Crime Section of the Criminal Police Service, and the Inspection of the Ministry of the Interior. Such departments will establish another element of the financial police system
The Government approved the following analytical materials aimed at the improvement of combating financial crime: ”The Information on Operability of the System Combating Money Laundering” (Resolution No. 326 dated 3 April 2000) and "Information on Some Measures Adopted Against Financial Crime" (Resolution No. 730 dated 19 July.2000). The measures adopted are (for example) as follows: the decision to assign investigators specialising in financial crimes to a special department that will be a link to the SRCMEC; to co-ordinate the work of a specialised police unit with specialised departments established at the offices of Chief State Prosecutors – these departments were set up to supervise pre-trial procedures related to economic crime cases; the project aimed at training officers working at all state units involved in combating major economic crimes was developed, etc.
The Anti-Corruption Training Project was commenced in state administration bodies. So far, three nation-wide training courses have been held for senior civil servants.
The first version of a handbook for citizens containing hints how to defend against corrupt conduct was produced. This Handbook was sent to all District Authorities where it was distributed (free of charge) to the general public.
Data related to combating corruption and organised crime at the inter-governmental level and the option to use some of the methods in the conditions of the Czech Republic is contained in the document ”The Report on Measures and Actions Against Corruption (and other major economic crime or organised Crime respectively) Newly Adopted Abroad” submitted to the Government members by the Minister of the Interior in February 2000.
The OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, (Paris 17 December 1997) was published by The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Communication No. 25/2000 SMS and came into effect in the Czech Republic on 21 March .2000.
By its Resolution No. 875 the Government approved (on 6 September 2000) the Methodological Instruction on Unified Procedure of Public Administration Bodies While Guaranteeing the Right of Individuals and Legal Entities on Information in compliance with Act No. 106/1999 Coll., about Free Access to Information.
The civil-legal Convention on Corruption
The amendment to the Act on Association in Political Parties and Political Movements
The Act on Awarding Tenders, amended by Act No. 28/2000 Coll.,
700 telephone complaints and 40 e-mail complaints were received through a special anti-corruption telephone line at the Ministry of the Interior – the complaints received are of a diverse nature: they notify about inactivity or inappropriate behaviour of policemen, over-long investigation, they also relate to restitutions, to suspicions of corrupt conduct, implementation of tenders, as well as complaints about heads of District Councils. The number of questions related to legal or other professional assistance prevailed in the number of complaints.
With its Resolution No. 144 dated 14 February 2001 the Government took cognisance of The Report on Corruption in the Czech Republic and on Meeting the Schedule of the National Programme on Combating Corruption. On the basis of the analysis which emphasised the evaluation of situation concerning bribery and crimes committed by public officials, a public discussion was proposed to enter into the Czech Anticorruption Agreement, which should be an integrated element. The proposal arises from the conviction based on the evaluation of the National Programme Combating Corruption, that corruption may be successfully combated only when a wide social consensus has been reached.
On the basis of the analysis, a tender for the best proposal regarding the Advisory Centre for Victims of Corruption is being prepared.
The Government accepted the auspices of the 10th International Anticorruption Conference which is to be held in Prague autumn 2001.
There has been active cooperation between non-governmental organisations operating in the field of corruption issues with Transparency International.
The amendment to the Trade Licensing Act came into force on 1 January 2000. It regulates stricter requirements concerning the trustworthiness of an entrepreneur as well as conditions for operations of a defined group of foreign individuals. It clarified proceedings to get a trade licence, etc. Under the Government Regulation No. 140/2000 dated 19 April 2000 a list of so-called ”free businesses” was issued as such businesses had not been regulated previously.
By its Resolution No. 939 dated on 18 September 2000 the Government took cognisance of The Report on Investigation in Savings and Cooperative Credit Banks. The minister of the Interior presented this Report at the meeting of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament. The Chamber of Deputies adopted Resolution No. 1188/2000 related to item 3 by which the deputies required from the Government to provide them with more information on the course of the investigations of crime offences committed in the aforementioned institutions. This information should be submitted by 30 June 2001.
To continue implementing a basic part of the Central Analytical System Project.
Good co-operation and exchange of information is performed between the SRCMEC and the FAD, through which individual cases of money laundering have been operatively solved (the agreement between these two bodies was prepared back in 1996).
The SRCMEC maintains quite intensive contacts with partner units dealing with financial crime, money laundering, and corruption from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Slovakia, and Poland. Training programmes organised in cooperation with Canadian experts should be stimulating.
Good cooperation was established with the Association of Banking Cards, the Commission for Financial and Banking Security, and the Banking Association.
The Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office has drawn up a comparative analysis of legal regulations valid in the Czech Republic in relation to screening Chapter 28 of - financial control including institutional framework. There are the following issues: the protection of the EU budget against unlawful conduct of a financial criminal nature, corruption, abuse of power by a public official of the Union and member states and against any other forms of organised crime pursuant conclusions of the Amsterdam Treaty. The analysis and proposals of measures to be adopted will list the actual steps to be taken in terms of legislative regulations regarding the above mentioned issued.
The Working Party comprising of the representatives of state administration bodies and employers deals with the issues of illicit imports.
Taxes
The amendment to Act No.337/1992 Coll., on Tax and Fee Administration, submitted to the Government in May 2000, contains a provision which enables information to be disclosed to the Financial Analytical Department.
The amendments to Act No. 587/1992 Coll., on Excise Taxes and Act No. 61/1997 Coll., on Pure Spirit: the Act stipulates an obligation to add to pure spirit a denaturising agent BITREX which considerably limits the taste and colour. With effect from 1 April 2000 it has provided an obligation on the staff of the Tax Authorities to assist in denaturising fermented spirit. With effect from 1 April 2000 compensation of excise tax on bio-diesel fuel for its producers and distributors was repealed.
In November 2000, the Government discussed the topic related to a legal regulation for improving tax and customs duty administration.
The amendment to Act No. 492/2000 Coll., altered by Act No. 586/1992 Col., on Income Taxes. The provisions of Sec. 25 (1) (f) explicitly forbids deduction of any money provided to a foreign public official with regards to performing his/her duties.
The Draft Act on Tax and Customs Administration Offices
Audit, Control, Education
The inspection of the Ministry of Finance concentrated mainly on tax issues and the awarding of public tenders; while controlling privatisation of state property the Ministry of Finance cooperated with the Czech Police in the cases of suspicion of crime, especially in the phase when the whole privatisation procedure was being approved. The Ministry of Finance performed an audit in 6 construction savings banks which focused especially on state subsidies provided to the customers of construction saving., on the amounts of state subsidies, utilisation of state subsidies, etc. (No crime offence were found during such audits). The State Supervising Office For Insurance Companies and Pension Funds of the Ministry of Finance while auditing the performance of pension funds lodged complaints concerning suspicions of crime with the Czech Police. Two of these complaints are being examined at the moment.
The objective of the seminars aimed at combating organised and financial crime, corruption, and money laundering, was to provide information as well as to harmonise some procedures of Czech penal bodies with those in the EU.
Customs officers, who participated in a long-term training for specialists dealing with goods after they were cleared through customs, detected a number of cases where the value for calculating customs duty was decreased. The international cooperation also supported successful investigations of breaches of customs regulations (for example cooperation with customs administrations in Germany, Austria, and Slovakia). However, cooperation with Turkey and China is not satisfactory. The international IT system for exchanging information on breaches of customs regulation (”CEN”) was put into operation. Establishing joint teams of customs officers and policemen was shown to be successful while investigating extensive cases of economic crimes (one of the most successful groups was a working party of the Czech Customs Administration and the Czech Police monitoring smuggling of alcohol).
According to the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office it would be appropriate to change Act No. 552/1991 Coll., on State Inspection, as amended, in terms of strengthening consultative and cooperation links among state bodies and penal proceeding bodies in order that such co-ordination would not be executed without any legal regulation. It is considered whether the efficient punishment of economic and financial crime would not be possible to facilitate through the discussion of preliminary results of an audit/control performed by some state bodies (mainly by the Czech National Bank, the Commission for Securities, or Supreme Audit Office) with State Prosecutors in case of a justified suspicion that a crime was committed.
The project of joint education and a discussion platform of policemen, state prosecutors and judges involved in investigation and revealing corruption aimed at special information about this phenomenon and methods combating it
The Supreme Audit Office cooperates with the Czech Police in notifying about facts showing the grounds that a crime was committed- There were notifications on evasion of taxes, health and social insurance and similar mandatory dues, frauds and curtailments of taxes.
Protection of Intellectual Property. Protection of Customers
The inter-ministerial commission for combating unlawful conduct against intellectual property rights (establish by Government’s Resolution No. 330 dated 14 April 1999) discussed the preparation of a document "The Inspection of Computer Programmes Used in Ministries and Other Bodies of State Administration and Entities Managed by Them” (By 31 May 2001, a system of rules and principles concerning check ups of utilising software in the state administration will be submitted to the Government); there is a good cooperation or ministries involved with non-governmental organisations (BSA, The International Federation of Phonographical Industry, etc.).
Act No.121/2000 Coll., on Copyright
Cooperation of individuals and legal entities in eliminating crimes concerning industrial property rights resulted in 162 notifications from the side of the Patent Office to the penal proceedings bodies.
Enforcement of rights related to industrial property is regulated, i.a., in provisions of Sec. 20, 21, 22 of Act No. 207/2000 Coll., on Protection of Industrial Samples and on amendment to Act No. 527/1990 Coll., on Inventions, Industrial Samples, and Innovation Proposals, as amended.
Newly defined misdemeanours of unauthorised execution of rights being reserved by the aforementioned Acts to industrial property owners are contained in the amendment to Act No. 200/1990 Coll., on Misdemeanours, as amended.
Seminars aimed at eliminating ”pirate production” in terms of industrial property rights were organised.
The protection of customers’ rights
Amendments to Act No. 64/1986 Coll., o the Czech Commercial Inspection, as amended, to Act
The Czech Commercial Inspection performed 952 inspections
The Draft Act on Trade Licensing – specification of so-called free businesses,
The approach of the Czech Republic towards the agreements generally known as the Internet Agreements – The World Intellectual Property Organisation Agreement on Copyright and The World Intellectual Property Organisation Agreement on Artist Performance and Audio Recordings - was approved by Government’s Resolution No. 48 dated 10 January 2001 which was submitted to the Czech Parliament for its approval. Once these two agreements come into effect, unfortunately the required number of ratification instruments or instruments on accession have not been deposited yet, the international protection of works, performances and audio recordings distributed by new technologies will be ensured.
The database of information and contact persons dealing with the protection of intellectual property rights published on web sites makes references also to contact persons of non-governmental organisations, non-profit organisations that cooperate mainly with the Ministry of Culture.
A methodological procedure were drawn up to allow more efficient revealing, documenting and punishing of crime related to intellectual property.
At inter-ministerial level ”The Proposal of Conception Aimed at Decreasing Elimination of Consequences of Information Struggle, Interferences by Foreign Intelligence Services and Criminal Attacks on Information Systems” "is being prepared, The Ministry of the Interior is drawing up "The Strategy on Combating Information Technology Crime” (trends, analyses and measures aimed against this kind of crime).
The Czech Police cooperates with security departments of e.g. American Express, Visa, and Europay.
In the field of software piracy there is good cooperation of the Czech Police with BSA, SW-HW PROTECT.
The Inter-ministerial Commission for Combating Illicit Acts against Intellectual Property Rights continued its work (it was established on 14 April 1999 by Government’s Resolution No.330).
Environmental Crime
A report called "Crimes Against the Environment – Analysis and Measures to be Adopted" should help not only to reveal the latency of this kind of crime but especially to suggest basic steps for stakeholders to combat environmental crime.
2.7. Crimes of Violence
I. Development and Characteristic Features
Criminal Statistics
Court Statistics
persons sentenced 2.782 (4.5 %; +167)
(Sec. 221, 222 a 225 of the Criminal Code)
The criminal statistics results are not directly comparable with those from the Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for the State Prosecutor’s Office and court statistics. This is caused by time differences. In some cases, there are differences of several years between the termination of the actual case in individual phases of prosecution. The police statistics record the cases in their very beginning, while the court statistics record them once they are closed. Another reason may be the fact that the criminal statistics also record crimes committed by an unknown offender. Also the statistics cannot be compared because the Act Sections used for individual crime categories do not always correspond.
The number of ascertained crimes of violence decrease or stagnated respectively. The number of cleared up crimes slightly fell with the detection rate being constant. Despite the decline in ascertained crimes the number of murders and dangerous threats has increased.
The number of ascertained crimes of violence remains influenced by repeated factors. The most difficult of which are elements of good organisation of such crimes, alcohol, drugs and relapse. Those who committed violent crimes often use short firearms and stabbing weapons. The shift to more professional crimes of robbery with violence, with links to economic crime and the growth of Russian speaking offenders, are typical features of this type of crime (Activities of criminal organisations including crime of violence – see also Chapter ”Organised Crime”).
A higher number of murders (considerable growth by 33 murders was recorded in Central Bohemia) was underlined by a lower detection rate which accounted for 81.7 % (89 % in 1999). Among cleared up murders there have been mainly murders resulting from personal disputes (125), an increasing trend was recorded in murders with robberies (43, in 1999 36), police registered also 5 murders to ”order”. Professional preparation, a robbery motive, and brutality are typical features of current murders. There are more murders with unidentified corpses, of 23 such murders 15 victims were identified, of them there were 7 foreigners. A further problem is the rising number of murders in which a conflict between criminal organisations is involved. Detection is very complex – consideration of a murderer can be from a blood feud to ”taking over” a certain territory. Murders committed by hired foreigners who leave our territory immediately after the crimes continued. The majority of murders and attempted murders were committed with the use of weapons. (93 murders were committed with stabbing weapons and in 87 cases the offender used firearms11). 262 persons, of which were 43 women, were prosecuted. There have been more cases when an offender or offenders did not commit only one murder (the group of (Mr.) Èerný – 6 cases, Humenský – 4 cases, Roubal – 7 cases). The Czech Police recorded 198 (in 1999 203) unidentified corpses; identified 81 % of cases, these include18 foreigners (11 Ukrainian citizens).
The number of robberies decreased, however, the detection rate declined as well. The situation has not changed markedly – the objects attracting the interest of offenders are money, jewellery, and goods in transit. Another motive for robbery is the collection of debts together with extortion. The offenders are more brutal; the number of armed robberies or threats with arms is increasing. Robberies from banks remain a problem. The trend recorded in1999 related to a decreased number of robberies from post offices (48, -19), burglaries of o post offices (26, -20) and robberies of postmen (92, -44) has continued. This trend was accompanied by a considerable decrease of damage claims, from CZK 13,050,650 to CZK 8,909,117. The reasons for the robberies have remained unchanged – according to the information collected by policemen these are easiness and an illusion of getting rich very quickly. The robbed facilities are usually determined in advance. Robberies of foreigners have increased. The most frequent are robberies, committed mainly in Prague, near railway and bus stations. Foreigner-offenders participated in 14.3 % of robberies. Robberies do not rank among the crimes having the highest number, however their seriousness cannot be assessed only according to the frequency with which they occur, but it is necessary to bear in mind that they can create a strong feeling of being endangered. There are 5 robberies per 10,000 inhabitants in the Czech Republic, while in Prague 15 robberies were committed per 10,000 inhabitants (Thus Prague’ s share in this kind of crime is 39 % - the share of other regions is from 18 % down to 3 %).
The Czech Police registered 3,491 (-353) armed crimes, which means a slightly increasing trend since 1995, the police recorded 3,072 crimes (in 1994 there was a record of 3,980 crimes). The police also recorded1, 149 (-352) crimes committed with a short firearm.
301 persons were lawfully sentenced for unauthorised arming (Sec. 185 of the Criminal Code).
The most frequent violent crime remains intentional bodily injury, accounting for 32.8 % of violent crimes. In comparison with the previous period, the number of dangerous threats has increased, while the amount of extortion has decreased.
A small decline in the number of fires recorded by the Czech police was registered 12 (-118, -16.6 %); the number of killed or injured persons fell as well. In 1,528 cases fires were set deliberately. According to information collected the motives were, as in the previous year, above all insurance fraud where offenders focused mainly on business premises. Some findings show that some fires were related to other kinds of crimes (extortion, tax evasion, etc.)
In terms of damage exceeding CZK 100 million the fire in the digital switchboard of Èeský Telecom, a.s. Frýdek Místek and a brewery in Prague 10 should be mentioned. The Czech Police, as one of the principal parts of the integrated rescue system, cooperated with fire brigades in 34,150 cases and directly assisted in rescue work. The most frequent events of cooperation were fires, car accidents, leakage of hazardous substances, oil breakdowns and events requiring technical assistance.
The Czech police recoded a total of 20 explosions in which 8 people died and 17 were seriously injured. Increasing attacks using booby traps against property (motor vehicles, offices, flats, family houses, etc,) as a form of threat mainly related to extortion or unlawful activities by the persons concerned, remain a risk factor. Furthermore, booby traps directed against the premises of various political parties were detected. The most serious case was considered to be explosives put on a railway line.
2,782 persons were sentenced for crimes of violence (Sec. 221, 222 and 225 of the Criminal Code) (4,5 %; +167). 163 (-19) persons were sentenced for murders (Sec. 219) and 1,427 (2,3 %; -64) persons were sentenced for robbery (Sec. 234).
II. Measures Adopted
The State Prosecutor’s Office makes every effort in order to use the maximum scope of punishment given by the relevant Act and to differentiate in terms of the length of the punishment between the offenders of crimes of violence. The provisions of Sec. 29 of the Criminal Code should be taken into consideration in extremely brutal crimes or crimes committed in a particularly contemptible manner. This provision allows the imposition of an extraordinary punishment, which may be imposed only for a crime for which such punishment is permitted in the Special Part of the Criminal Code.
A newly established special police group will tip off possible offenders, mainly those who could commit violent or moral crimes. This group will also be involved in operating the international analytical system, VICLAS, for revealing mutual links between crime offences.
Better protection of Czech Postal Service staff and property had positive results. Introduction of safety boxes for transportation of cash and bringing them up-to-date will continue. Technical security of post offices will be extended.
The management of the Czech Post Office will continue developing a comprehensive security system to secure post offices and related operations (They endeavour to mainly secure the post office premises and deposits of cash, the company-wide regulation will be clarified in this respect; they will also divide post offices into categories according to their risk, the facilities should be technically secured, the management and regulation systems should be enhanced, etc.). An emphasis is put on using elements which can secure cash independently of post office staff, which should also decrease the direct danger to employees.
A conference "Central European Post Office Security" strengthened international cooperation in this field.
The Czech Postal Service will continue in their newly adopted philosophy related to property protection – for example equipping post office counters with special little vaults (which should decrease the amount of cash available at the counters), insurance agreements concerning the most important risk aspects, etc.
2.8. Crimes against Human Dignity (Moral Crimes)
I. Development and Characteristic Features
Criminal Statistics
Court Statistics
number of sentenced persons 452 (-134, - 42.3 %)
(Sec. 241 – 245 of the Criminal Code)
The criminal statistics results are not directly comparable with those from the Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for the State Prosecutor’s Office and court statistics. This is caused by time differences. In some cases, there are differences of several years between the termination of the actual case in individual phases of prosecution. The police statistics record the cases at the very beginning, while the court statistics record them once they are closed. Another reason may be the fact that the criminal statistics also record crimes committed by an unknown offender. Also the statistics cannot be compared because the Act Sections used for individual crime categories do not always correspond.
There is fluctuating trend of moral offences, while they were on the decline in the previous years, in 1998 the number of moral offences ascertained increased and decreased again in 1999, which means that moral crime displays a high degree of latency The detection rate is constant. The number of offences related to procurement shows a decline by more than 47 %, which should be considered a negative development due to high latency of this kind of crime.
Prostitution remains a permanent problem that directly relates to the offence of procurement which is very difficult to prove (the majority of prostitutes refuse to testify against procurers or pimps). The situation has not changed very much; road and street prostitution has been moved to erotic nightclubs (since 1998 there has been an increase of 240 clubs of this kind). Prostitution is closely linked to other kinds of crime, often displaying elements of organised crime, such as trafficking in people, extortion, deprivation of personal freedom, abduction abroad, etc. (This kind of crime displays high latency and it is not infrequently committed with the consent of the women concerned. It displays a high degree of organisation and is international in scope). It is also linked to crimes against property (tax evasion), crimes against health (spreading of venereal diseases) and offences against the public order, endangering the morals of juveniles and endangering morals generally, mainly through the production and distribution of pornography. The Czech Republic is sharply criticised by the European Union bodies as well as by other international organisation for not being able to solve prostitution issues and related phenomena. Simultaneously, it is asked to meet requirements arising from new international treaties regulating this area. (The UN Conventions against International Organised Crime and the related Protocol). The phenomena linked to prostitution, predominately organised crime, represents a problem for the Czech Republic which has not been satisfactorily solved. The number of rapes (500 offences, -134 offences) and trafficking in women (13 offences, -10 offences) decreased. The crime of sexual abuse is also very latent because, after a significant growth in 1998, the Czech Police recorded a decline in sexual abuse (799 offences, -116 offences) and in sexual abuse of persons dependent on the person abusing them (141 offences, -37 offences).
452 (-136) persons were lawfully sentenced for crimes against human dignity (Sec.241 – 245 of the Criminal Code), of which 315 persons were sentenced for sexual abuse (Sec. 242 of the Criminal Code) and 127 persons for rape (Sec. 241).
II. Measures Adopted
The Government with its resolution dated 15 November 2000 No. 1145 took cognisance of ”The Draft Measures to Be Adopted in order to Solve Prostitution”.
A newly established special police group will tip off possible offenders, mainly those who could commit violent or moral crimes. This group will also be involved in operating the international analytical system, VICLAS, for revealing of mutual links between crime offences.
The Minister of the Interior by his instruction No. 11 dated 8 February 2001 set up an advisory commission (under the name ”Round Table”) aimed at solving issues of trafficking in women and commercial abuse of children. The members of this commission are representatives of the Ministry of the Interior and the other ministries involved, among with representatives of non-governmental organisations. (The first, establishing meeting of the Round Table was held in June 2000 and dealt with trafficking in women and commercial abuse of children. There were also preliminary discussions relating to the international UN project ”Prevention of Trafficking in People and Strengthening the Role of Penal Bodies). The participants of another meeting which was held on 16 February 2001, in Chemnitz, Germany agreed to establish a trilateral working party at the level of the ministries of the interior of German, Poland, and the Czech Republic to solve problems of prostitution in border areas, sexual tourism and trafficking in people.
A Ministerial Meeting of the EU Member States (Stockholm, February 2001) was held. It dealt with the issues of migration and asylum policies, trafficking in and smuggling people. The participants agreed that it was necessary to deepen international cooperation, strengthen the powers of Europol police and deepen the cooperation of state prosecutor’s offices within Europol. They intend to cooperate closely with candidate countries in formulating an efficient strategy to combat smuggling and trafficking in people.
Victims of the aforementioned crimes should be better protected by the amendment to Act No. 14o/1961 Coll., as amended, which newly regulates signs of rape as well as punishment for rape.
2.9. Hooliganism and Street Crime
I. Development and Characteristic Features
Generally, public order is affected mainly by street crime (thefts from cars, pickpocketing, robberies, dissemination of drug abuse, etc.), and also by crime with an extremist subtext, car accidents, hooliganism, etc. The present condition of this kind of crime and its trends are described in more detail in the relevant Chapters of this Report (for example the Czech Police recorded 3,426 cases of hooliganism which is almost the same number as in 1999). The incidence of such crime and the detection rate affect the degree to which citizens feel safe. A number of preventative measures taken by basic police departments have contributed to the fact that there have not been any more serious or more extensive breaches of the peace. Numerous assemblies of persons where public order or peace were breached were held at the local level. The public order was considerable breached during the IMF/WB meeting (see also Chapter 2.11 Crime with an Extremist Subtext), mainly for one day. During other days public order was not breached markedly.
Whenever the assembly of persons was known in advance the police took adequate measures. The police responded also to unlawful assemblies (e.g. forbidden demonstrations). The adopted measures led to restoration of public order. The persons who carried out illegal activities were in the most cases submitted to legal recourse. Policemen always try to separate hostile groups and intervene against persons who seriously breached the public order and committed criminal offences. The professional police competence in this area has improved.
The findings resulting from UNIVERSITAS research show that people are mainly concerned with pickpockets, thefts of handbags or things from shops, restaurants, etc (41 %), robbery and mugging (18 %), problems with gangs of juveniles and youngsters (17 %). People typically criticised the ”lower visibility” of the police (68 % respondents fully agree or rather agree that they only meet policemen in their street very rarely.
1,985 (+192) persons were lawfully sentenced for ”breach of public order and hooliganism” (the crime of rowdyism under Sec. 202 of the Criminal Code).
II. Measures Adopted
Typical offenders of street crime are young people, educational advisory centres in cooperation between the Czech Police, municipal police and social prevention departments of the city councils drew up the preventative programmes aimed against spray painting, hooliganism, etc.
Other measures relating to street crime are contained in the following Chapters: Crimes against Property, Crimes of Violence, Crimes against Human Dignity, Crime with an Extremist Subtext, Road Safety, and especially in the part dealing with crime prevention.
2.10. Crimes Committed on Railways
I. Development and Characteristic Features
Crimes committed on railways account for 1 % of total crime. Its tendency shows a slight increase, mainly with respect to the number of passengers being robbed and the number of stolen goods transported on the railway. Victims of such crimes are frequently foreigners, who only transit the Czech Republic and they report the theft at their target destination, i.e. outside the territory of our country. The number of the crimes committed is thus supposed to be higher. Thefts of soft metal remain a problem since such offences can affect safety and smooth operations of railway transport. (Offenders usually damage railway security systems). The value of damaged caused increased (CZK +2,171,957). The damage to carriages caused by spray painting rose by more than CZK 2 million. On the other hand, a decline in damages, by almost CZK 2 million, was recorded with respect of goods transported by freight trains. Persons ”living” in the area of railways – mainly in railway station lounges at the points of large junctions – constitute a special problem. People who cumulate there can either commit criminal offences or can also become the victims of crimes. Waiting rooms and waiting shelters are often damaged or destroyed especially at a place without any supervision. The police received 9 pieces of anonymous information about the placing of explosives on the railway’s premises –none of them has been cleared up. The measures to be adopted are very demanding and require the deployment of all units of railway security service and technical means. Safety and smooth operations of railways is endangered by an increasing number of obstacles – e.g. stones, on rail tracks, by throwing object onto moving trains.
Extraordinary attention is paid to the transport of nuclear material (for nuclear power stations), weapons, ammunition, explosives, poisons and other substances dangerous to the environment. The transport of NATO army members organised within special KFOR transports, were not disturbed.
Railway accidents represent a specific area. 27 (-16) railway accidents were investigated as criminal offences. The damage caused by those cases was valued at CZK 16.881 million (CZK –4.920 million). There were 39 (-14) accidents where trains collided with road vehicles. The damage here amounted to CZK 3.432 million (CZK -3,.83 million).
II. Measures Adopted
Attention was paid to the events announced in connection with assemblies, demonstrations, concerts organised by extremist movements; attention was also devoted to escorting the trains on which football fans travelled. Specific tasks were performed in relation to the transportation of military or nuclear material, explosives, weapons, poisons and substances hazardous for the environment etc.
The amendment to the Act on Rail Tracks was published in the Collection of Laws under No. 23/2000. It regulates the movement of persons in the area of railway.
An agreement on the option of individual policemen to cross national borders and ”hand over” a train to the protection of the police of the other state was signed with Germany.
Technical preventative measures aimed mainly at equipping railway carriages in which attractive or dangerous goods are transported as well as furnishing sleeping cars or cars with berths. Conductors received mobile phones.
Agreements on options of policemen to cross the national borders by train and hand over goods to the police of the other state are being prepared with other countries.
Train and railway station staff will be provided with communication devices, the staff will strive to eliminate strangers in areas not accessible to the public.
A Czech-Slovak interdepartmental commission was established to increase safety of railway transport (mainly to solve attacks of organised groups against sleeping cars in the territory of the Czech Republic)
The security situation on the railway is regularly discussed within the international organisation of European railway police and railway companies - COLPOFER.
2.11. Crimes with an Extremist Subtext
I. Development and Characteristic Features
Criminal Statistics
Court Statistics
sentenced persons 148 (+18, + 13,8 %) (Sec. 196, 198, 198 a, 221 (2). b), 22 ( 2) b), 219 (2) g), 260 a 261 of the Criminal Code)
The criminal statistics results are not directly comparable with those from the Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for the State Prosecutor’s Office and court statistics. This is caused by time differences. In some cases, there are differences of several years between the termination of the actual case in individual phases of prosecution. The police statistics record the cases at their very beginning, while the court statistics record them once they are closed. Another reason may be the fact that the criminal statistics also record crimes committed by an unknown offender. Also the statistics cannot be compared because the Act Sections used for individual crime categories do not always correspond.
Racial crimes or crimes with extremist subtext accounted for 0.09 % (+ 0.02 %) of total crimes. This proportion seems to be negligible, but this kind of crime is seriously dangerous for society. This rise (+15.2 %) was accompanied by the number of crimes cleared (+ 19.8 %) and a higher detection rate (+ 3.5 %). The above-mentioned increase, apart from other things, reflects the higher quality of work by the police in the field of extremism, including operative work. Simultaneously, it reflects, as in the previous year, a higher number of complaints or just indications of crimes with an extremist subtext lodged by the members of the Roma community.
The highest number of such crimes was committed in North Moravia (84) and Prague (59) followed by East Bohemia (56) and North Bohemia (44). The lowest number of such crimes was registered in South Bohemia (22). In 2000, as in 1999, the most affected regions were the districts of Karviná, Ostrava, Bruntál, Olomouc, Pøerov (NM); Pardubice, Trutnov, Hradec Králové (EB); Èeská Lípa, Dìèín, and Jablonec nad Nisou (NB). Prague preserved its specific position given by the city agglomeration for which all forms of extremism and xenophobia are typical.
449 persons were prosecuted for committing the above-stated offences, mainly for the support and propagation of movements aimed at suppressing citizens’ rights and freedoms – 195 persons (43,4 %), for the defamation of a nation, race or a conviction – 111 persons (28.3 %), for violence against a group of citizens or an individual – 48 persons (16,3 %). 20 persons (4.5 %) were prosecuted for intentional injury to health. In 2000, as in 1999, no murder or severe injury to health causing death was committed. However, with respect to trials held, some offences committed before 2000 attracted attention (the case of the death of M. Lacko, the attack against a homestead in Dvorek, the Tøebíè District or the attack against the Modrá hvìzda [i.e. Blue Star] restaurant).
Extremism including attacks motivated socially, ethnically, or racially which occurred in the Czech Republic. The cases of extremism, involving the efforts towards the total change of a social or political order, have been very rare so far despite the events which occurred in Prague in September 2000 which could indicate such attempts.
Activities of the anarcho-autonomous movement continued. They took the form of demonstrations and informal events, aimed against state administration bodies while seeking direct confrontation with the police. Supporters of this part of the left-wing spectrum typically sought activities aimed against supporters of the skinhead movement. The autonomous movement became more radical, improved its organisation and mutual links. A sort of ”hard core” came into existence and it was the members of this hard core who committed criminal offences. The transition from gestures of a proclamation nature to utilising violent methods was indicated by ”street parties” in previous years. The September Meeting of the IMF/WB held in Prague became ”an event of 2000”. From the end of 1999, a whole range of domestic entities was involved in the preparation of protests against the 55th Meeting of the IMF/WB in Prague including INPEG (the Initiative Against Economic Globalisation), which facilitated the preparation of protests and co-ordinated Czech anarchists, Trotskyites and other groups and organisations. Organisations from abroad, mainly the PGA (People’s Global Action), participated in the preparations of protests in Prague together with other purposefully established platforms (S26 Collective, Prager Herbst, etc.). The preliminary strategy and tactics of protests were agreed upon during the coordination meetings of Czech and foreign organisers. Even at that time it was obvious that the principal objective would be to bring about a violent confrontation with the Czech Police. I Instructors from the USA and eight other countries experienced in previous anti-globalisation activity assisted in preparing actions. During the protests they also hired a room to house a media centre for the IMC which ensured fresh news and an information service for the foreign media from the point of view of the organisers of the protests. Common preparations for participating in the September demonstrations held during the IMF/WB meeting helped to develop international contacts between ecological activists and autonomous groups. In terms of a social danger, good organisation and links to foreign structures the most dangerous seem to be the AFA and the Federation of Social Anarchists (FSA). These preparations and the course of the demonstrations itself confirmed how important the role of the Internet network and e-mail communication is in such actions. The anarcho-autonomous scene entered the third millennium being connected all over the world through communication networks and is capable of responding immediately to various events through its Internet news.
The main demonstration was held on 26 September 2000. A great part of foreign participants arrived on 25 September and mainly aggressive ”black blocks” arrived at night from 25 September to 26 September. In addition to non-militant demonstrators against the IMF/WB meeting, the members of the above-mentioned autonomous groups ”black blocks” from Poland, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and some Scandinavian countries accompanied by domestic groups, among others the FSA, and EF participated in the demonstrations. Militant groups attempted a violent penetration into the zone of the Congress centre, they tried to block communications and attacked the officers of police forces with burning bottles and paving stones.. After the blockade of the Congress Centre the autonomous groups attacked ”the symbols of global capitalism”, namely shops of McDonald´s and KFC, bank branches, department stores, etc in the area of Wenceslav Square and Vinohrady Avenue. The majority of foreign participants left Prague at night.
The right-wing extremist scene used in 2000, even more than in 1999, a platform of civic associations and continued its efforts to transform into a political party. With respect to such efforts the registration of the National Social Alliance or the National Party was rejected by the Ministry of the Interior in 2000 pointing out the formal shortcomings in their application for registration. Attempts to join the political scene were apparent especially before the elections to the Senate and to the new regional parliaments. For example the national leader of the National Alliance was one of the candidates of the Patriotic Republican Party. The registered National Alliance and Patriotic Front as well as unregistered National Resistance were the most active while appearing in the public.13 The activities of the whole right-wing extremist spectrum were marked by the efforts to join the political scene, simultaneously trying to get rid of committing crimes, especially the crimes of violence and to display a higher degree of professionalism.14 The change was apparent especially in published periodicals including those presented on the Internet (e.g. Vlajka (Flag) journal) as well as in public presentations. Their participants did not any have conflicts with their environment and they strived to respect laws, they did not commit crimes or misdemeanours, prohibited symbols or emblems disappeared from their clothes. In comparison with the previous years, the number of ”classical” rallies of the supporters of the skinhead movement decreased while the number of private celebrations in flats and family houses with a lower number of guests increased.
As in 1999, there were more serious breaches of peace by juveniles or groups closed to the juvenile age group who were almost exclusively supporters and members of the skinhead movement. They often involved repeat offenders. Their verbal and physical attacks were directed against their peers from the Roma community. However, the victims of such offences were often dark skinned foreigners. In other cases there were predominantly verbal attacks having the nature of situational conflicts between the persons from the majority society who had never been sentenced, and Roma on the other side. The conflicts were often provoked or affected by the previous behaviour of the victims, however the attacks were not aimed at the subject matter of such a conflict but against the ethnic membership of the victims. Exceptionally, there have also been attacks having a racial subtext by Roma directed towards members of the majority society.
148 (+18) persons were lawfully sentenced for crimes of a racial nature (Sec. 196, 198, 198 a, 221 (2) b), 22 (2) b), 219 (2) g), 260, and 261 of the Criminal Code) which accounts for 0.2 % of the total number of persons lawfully sentenced. Of the total number of such offenders 35 (56 in 1999) juvenile offenders were sentenced (23.6 %), 13 persons were sentenced as repeat offenders. Most persons were sentenced (57) for support and propagation of the movements directed toward the rights and freedoms of citizens (Sec.Sec.260, 261 of the Criminal Code), 29 persons were sentenced for violence against a group of citizens or an individual (Sec. 196 of the Criminal Code), 24 persons for incitement to racial hatred (Sec. 198 or Sec. 198 a of the Criminal Code), 16 persons for racially motivated bodily harm (Sec. 221 of the Criminal Code), 4 persons for extortion (Sec.235 of the Criminal Code – extortion racially motivated) 3 persons for rowdyism (Sec.202 of the Criminal Code), 2 persons for racially motivated heavy bodily harm (Sec. 222 of the Criminal Code), 2 persons for violation of Soldiers’ rights and protected interests (Sec.279a of the Criminal Code), 2 persons for assaults on public officials (Sec.155 of the Criminal Code) and for violence against a group of citizens or an individual (Sec.197a of the criminal Code.). Also one person was sentenced for deprivation of freedom, larcenies, embezzlement and insults between soldiers – all with a racial subtext.
More detailed information on crimes with an extremist subtext is contained in ”The Report on Extremist Issues in the Czech Republic in 2000” which will be submitted by the Minister of the Interior to the Government by 30 June 2000 in accordance with the Government’s Resolutions No. 192/1998, No. 720 date 14 July 1999, No. 684 dated 12 July 2000 and the plan of work for the first half of 2001 (non-legislative assignments).
II. Measures Adopted
The Government approved by its Resolution No. 684 dated 12 July 2000 the Report on the Issue of Extremism in the Czech Republic in 1999 (hereinafter ”the Report”) and required from the Director of the Security Intelligence Service and the Minister of the Interior to submit ”Summary information on findings concerning civic associations, political parties and political movements, as well as other organisation registered with the Ministry of the Interior or the Ministry of Culture respectively, if their activities showed extremist manifestations or if their activities directly contradict any laws”.
Measures of a permanent nature contained in the Annex to Government ‘s Resolution No. 720/1999 are valid. They are aimed at strengthening punishment and the prevention of crimes with an extremist context. To meet these measures the cooperation of the Minister of the Interior with the Director of the Security Intelligence Service, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, the Minister of Education, Youth, and Sports, the Supreme Chief Prosecutor and with representatives of other state administration bodies continued
The assignments resulting from Government’s Resolutions No. 720/1999 and No. 599/2000 were met on time. Through its Resolution. No. 384 dated 19 April the Government took cognisance of ”The Summary Information on Entities Officially Registered with the Ministry of the Interior Whose Activities Contradict the Laws Under Which They Are Registered.” On 19 April 2000 the members of the Government took cognisance of the document called ”The Analysis of Regions (Locations) Mostly Affected by Crime with an Extremist Subtext”, and on 15 November 2000 they took cognisance of ”The information on evaluating crimes, committed from 1 January 1996, within which there was an attack against a nation, a nationality or race or a crime of incitement of national and racial hatred was committed, including information on the assessment of all cases where a Roma was either the victim or the offender according to detected facts provided that such ethnic data was monitored”.
Training of policemen dealing with the issues of extremism remained a priority. A pilot seminar ”Police Work in the Area of National Minorities’ Protection” (October 2000) by which the Czech and British Parties followed up the conclusions of the international symposium which ”The Role of Police Forces in the Suppression of Racism and Xenophobia” (October 1999) opened up room for further seminars of this type. In 2000, ”The Role of Police Forces in Combating Racism and Xenophobia”, a collection of lectures and contributions from the International Symposium was published. The Ministry of the Interior provided specialists dealing with extremist issues with the Czech translation of the 1999 German Security report published every year by the Federal German Bureau for Constitution Protection.
Another step in combating extremist crimes is to provide support to the prevention of crime projects whose implementation could systematically improve inter-ethnic relations, unfavourable social situation of some Roma communities and could contribute to positive emancipation of individual Roma at the local level. The successful social integration of Roma communities could pre-empt racial attacks from the side of extremist groups.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented abroad measures adopted by the Czech Government in the field of nationalist policy, Roma issues, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
The Government approved by its Resolution No. 1069 dated 1 November 2000 the Draft Act on Protection of National Minorities and Amendments to some Other related Acts.
The measures to be adopted to arrange a nation-wide and parliamentary discussion on how to improve relations between the majority society and the Roma minority were approved by Resolution No. 994 from 11 October 2000.
The survey of activities of the Czech Republic in the field of human rights (national minorities, Roma issues, racial discrimination, xenophobia, etc.) according to the nature of mechanisms and international organisations (e. g the Council of Europe – the Framework Convention on Protection of National Minorities; the European Charter on Regional and Minority Languages; the UN – discussion about 3rd and 4th periodical report of the Czech Republic on meeting the obligations of the Czech Republic arising from the UN International Convention on Eliminating All Forms of Racial Discrimination /ICERD/; etc.) will form a part of the aforementioned ”Report on the Issues of Extremism in the Czech Republic in 2000”.
The permanent measures resulting from the Annex to Government’s Resolutions No. 720/1999 as well as sustained monitoring of the extremist scene will continue.
In compliance with Government’s Resolution No. 684/2000 an emphasis will be put on punishment of those civic associations (and political parties) registered with the Ministry of the Interior, whose activities contain elements of extremism or their activities contradict laws.
The pilot seminar organised within the British-Czech Action Plan will be followed up in 2001 by six more seminars which will be attended by Czech policemen involved in solving extremist issues and racial violence, Ministry of the Interior’s officers as well as representatives of ethnic groups.
International