His Excellency Milos Zeman
Prime Minister
Prague
The Czech Republic

Fax: (004202) 2481 0231

Vienna, 29 October 2001

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, strongly condemns the recent state harassment of journalists and media in the Czech Republic.

We are informed that the weekly magazine Respekt has been threatened with a joint lawsuit from the government, acting as a single entity, and its 17 members, acting individually, for damages amounting to 5.16 million Euros, a sum that may force Respekt to declare itself insolvent. On 22 October 2001, you were widely quoted as stating that the libel suits were necessary “in order to make sure that Respekt finally ceases to exist”.

In its latest issue the magazine reportedly accused the government of failing to deliver on its promise to fight corruption in the Czech Republic. The article was based on information from Transparency International which recently published its annual report estimating that the present level of corruption in the Czech Republic was the third highest among the former communist European countries.

In an unrelated case, Frantisek Zamecnik, the former editor-in-chief of Nove Bruntalsko, was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment for having libelled the former mayor of Bruntal, Petr Krejci, the Social Democratic Deputy, Jaroslav Palas, and the editor of a local rival newspaper, Ludmila Navarova, in articles published between September 1988 and December 1999. Zamecnik is likely to appeal the decision. The present editor-in-chief of Nove Bruntalsko, David Pecha, is also being threatened with a jail sentence for “calling for the violent overthrow of the present political system”.

With regard to the above, IPI considers the incarceration of journalists as a serious infringement of basic human rights and regards this restriction on journalists as a gross violation of everyone’s right to “seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers” as guaranteed by Article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

IPI calls upon Your Excellency to ensure that Zamesnik’s sentence is overturned immediately and unconditionally. Libel should be dealt with by the civil law and all criminal penalties should be removed from the statute books of the Czech Republic. We also reiterate our call for the criminal charges against Pecha to be withdrawn.

Finally, IPI strongly opposes exorbitant fines, such as the one sought against Respekt which is clearly designed to exhaust the media organisation’s finances. The media plays an integral role within any democratic society and provides a forum for open debate; furthermore, its position as a watchdog guards against the misuse of power. We urge you to ensure that journalists reporting on events in the Czech Republic are allowed to carry out their profession without further harassment.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director