Czech noble families in property row with the police: report

Lidove noviny writes that Czech noble families will protest to Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek about a special police unit created specifically to stop them reclaiming property taken after World War II or by the former communist regime. The 30-strong "Majetek" (or property) unit was established by the former Social Democrat-dominated government in 2004 to try to disprove their restitution claims. The foreign intelligence services helped with the task, the daily Lidove Noviny said. The protest letter has already been signed by one of the main ongoing claimants to a swathe of estates and property, Frantisek Oldrich Kinsky, with 10 of the country's best known noble families promising to join the action. Police bugged Mr Kinsky's lawyer's mobile and office phone and tried to intimidate him by claiming he had withheld evidence connected with his client's restitution claims, it added.