News

Czech women who are victims of domestic violence frequently fail to report their experience to the police, the daily Lidové noviny writes in its Friday edition. The paper cites an international survey by the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency which indicates that Czech women’s mistrust of the police in this respect is higher than in any other EU member state with the exception of Cyprus. According to the survey one in three Czech women were physically or sexually assaulted at least once in their life, which is close to the EU average. However, while on average 19 percent of European women report the violence to the police, in the Czech Republic the figure is less than half that number. NGOs which help victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse say the police often downplay such incidents.

ANO leader and Finance Minister Andrej Babiš is the most trusted politician in the Czech Republic, according to the results of a March poll conducted by the STEM agency. Mr. Babiš got a 62 percent trust rating, followed by the Social Democrat Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Jiří Dienstbier who got 57 percent support and Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka who received 56 percent.

Centre-right parties TOP 09 and the Civic Democrats (ODS) are preparing for an electoral pact for Senate elections due to take place in October, according to leaders of both parties cited in Friday’s edition of the business daily Hospodářské Noviny. TOP 09 deputy chairman Miroslav Kalousek said that talks were also taking place on a regional level with a view that one of the parties would step aside and give the other a free run for selected Senate seats. A third of the Senate seats will be up for grabs with the overwhelming majority currently occupied by the Social Democrats, which at the moment has a majority in the upper chamber.

Czech football club Baník Ostrava will be fined 300,000 crowns and its stadium will be closed conditionally to fans for two games as punishment for the outbreak of violence on Saturday, the Czech Football Association has ruled. Violence broke out between Ostrava and Sparta Prague fans with the 15 minute half time interval extended to around 35 minutes before police restored order. Sparta Prague was also fined 50,000 crowns. The Ostrava club, which is struggling financially as well as results wise on the pitch, will not be able to appeal the ruling. The punishment was described as milder than it might have been by authorities. The ban on fans will take effect if there are futher problems.