Lidovky.cz: court rules amnesties apply to Brožová-Polednová

The District Court of Hradec Králové has ruled that amnesties given in previous years apply to the Czech Republic’s oldest prisoner, Dr. Ludmila Brožová-Polednová. The court made the decision last week in a closed hearing and it was reported by the website Lidovky.cz on Monday. According to the website, the court’s spokesman said that, due to previous presidential and governmental amnesties, Dr. Brožová-Polednová must be absolved of six years of her sentence, which equals the term to which she was sentenced. The verdict is not yet effective; the state prosecutor in Hradec Králové has filed an appeal and the case will be dealt with by the Supreme Court in Prague.

The 88-year-old former communist prosecutor was imprisoned in 2009 for the judicial murder of Milada Horáková, a politician executed by the communist regime in 1950 after a show trial. Her attorney says the case is also being reviewed by the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg.