Czech Ombudsman Otakar Motejl dies at 77

The Czech Ombudsman Otakar Motejl died on Sunday at the age of 77. The country’s first ever public defender of citizens’ rights, previously served as justice minister and president of the Supreme Court, winning great public trust in all his posts. As the former Czech president Václav Havel put it “he was a brave man who served justice all his life.”

Otakar Motejl, photo: CTK

Otakar Motejl had a history of defending people’s rights. He finished his legal studies in the mid 1950s and, after the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, he was appointed a member of the Supreme Court, in charge of rehabilitating the victims of show trials. When hard-line communists took over again, he started defending dissidents in the communist courts, such as Pavel Tigrid or members of the legendary band The Plastic People of the Universe. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989 Motejl served as justice minister and president of the Supreme Court.

The chairwoman of the Czech Helsinki Committee, Anna Šabatová, is the late Ombudsman’s deputy:

“I think it’s a great loss for justice in the Czech Republic, he was a great moral authority in the field. The most important thing is that Mr. Motejl established an incredibly effective and at the same time very humane institution.”

Anna Šabatová

Otakar Motejl was a strong advocate of the need for a public defender of citizens’ rights. When the post of Ombudsman was established ten years ago, many people were sceptical, but Motejl quickly won public trust and was re-elected to the post in 2006. Even President Klaus, who was originally against setting up the post, later admitted that Mr. Motejl had convinced him of the opposite.

The Ombudsman's Office dealt with about 7000 complaints a year, ranging from pointing out irregularities in Czech law to ensuring that Muslims were not served pork in Czech prisons. It was at his request that the heads of corrective institutions for minors banned the use of secret cameras and it is also thanks to him that the Government recently expressed regret over the fact that Roma women were sterilised in the past without their consent.

Former interior minister and Motejl’s close friend Jan Ruml says finding a suitable replacement for Otakar Motejl will be very hard indeed:

Photo: CTK

“His departure marks the end of an era for the institution of Ombudsman, because there is simply no one else like Motejl. There might be a very effective official or a very good lawyer appointed to the post, but a man with such high moral credit will be difficult to replace nowadays.”

Finding a new Ombudsman will probably be one of the first tasks for the newly elected lower house.