Constitutional Court rejects proposal for Article 2 of amnesty to be struck down

The controversial New Year’s amnesty declared by President Václav Klaus will not come under further scrutiny by the country’s Constitutional Court, the court’s general secretary Ivo Pospíšil confirmed on Tuesday. No official reason was given. The court dismissed a proposal by a group of senators calling for Article 2 of the amnesty to be struck down; the article halts or threatens to halt high-profile corruption and fraud cases that have languished in the courts between eight and 10 years, with potential sentences of up 10 years in prison. Four judges of the court, including chairman Pavel Rychetský, differed in their opinion. Discussed was whether the court could at all revise a presidential amnesty. The court just last month rejected a proposal that the entire amnesty be struck down. The amnesty halted 327 criminal proceedings at the beginning of the year and saw some 6,500 prisoners released.