Lower house lifts criminal immunity of two MPs

The Czech lower house on Wednesday stripped MP Vít Bárta of the Public Affairs party, as well as the independent MP Jaroslav Škarka, of their criminal immunity, enabling criminal investigation. Both are suspected of corruption but deny their guilt; they had called on the lower house to strip them of their immunity. The opposition has voiced concern that the government will influence the criminal prosecution of Mr. Bárta, the de-facto leader of the junior government coalition party and former transport minister. This is the second time that the current lower house has voted on stripping a member of its criminal immunity. In late March, Parliament voted against this step in the case of the Public Affairs’ MP Stanislav Huml.

Author: Sarah Borufka