News

A new court ruling has once again reversed the decision on the ownership of Opocno Chateau in Eastern Bohemia. According to the Rychnov district court the chateau belongs to the National Heritage Institute, thereby the state. Two earlier court rulings returned the chateau to the last private owners, the Colorado-Mansfeld family, but the Constitutional Court abolished both verdicts in January, bringing the restitution suit back to square one. The property was confiscated on the grounds of the post war Benes decrees and the Colorado Mansfeld family has battled since 1995 to get it back. The case hinges on whether the former owner Collorado Mansfeld was a Czechoslovak citizen and whether he collaborated with the Nazis.

The chairman of the opposition Communist Party, Miroslav Grebenicek, has decided to step down from his post. In a statement for the CTK news agency, Mr Grebenicek said his staying at the head of the party would be pointless, stating the party's programme orientation as the main reason of his move. A spokesperson for the Communist Party said that until October 1 when his case will be discussed by the Central Committee, Mr Grebenicek will not talk to the media. The 58-year old Miroslav Grebenicek has been chairman of the Communist Party since 1993.

The leader of the Social Democrats, former prime minister Stanislav Gross has rejected the statements of some Polish MPs who link the Unipetrol corruption scandal with the controversy surrounding the purchase of Mr Gross's Prague apartment. Stanislav Gross denied the allegations saying the sale of Unipetrol to the Polish company PKN Orlen was approved by the government of Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla last year whereas Mr Gross bought his flat in 1999. Some Czech media suggest that the privatisation of the oil and chemicals group Unipetrol might have been manipulated and bribes amounting to hundreds of millions of crowns were involved.

Jiri Lang, the head of BIS - the Czech counter-intelligence agency - has revealed that the agency recently helped thwart the planning of a terrorist attack within the European Union. Mr Lang made the statement on a news discussion programme on Sunday but refused to elaborate on further details, including whether any Czechs were involved. Public broadcaster Czech TV has pointed to a group recently arrested in Spain for planning an attack. According to BIS head Jiri Lang there are some links in the Czech Republic between individuals and the financing of terrorism. He indicated on the programme that counter-intelligence was following all suspicious leads.