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A court in Prague has found that the Ministry of the Interior acted illegally when it took DNA samples from thousands of prisoners in 2007. The case in question was brought by a convicted murderer, who was also filing for 300,000 crowns in non-material damages. The Circuit Court of Prague 7 denied the plaintiff compensation, noting that he had once given a DNA sample to the police voluntarily, but cited clear misconduct on the part of the Interior Ministry and the police in requiring and storing the samples. 16,000 DNA samples were taken from prisoners convicted of willful criminal acts in order to expand the National DNA Database used by crime investigators. The Ministry of the Interior maintains that the practice is in accordance with the law and will appeal the decision.

The executive council of the Civic Democratic Party is meeting to discuss both the future of embattled chairman Mirek Topolánek as a party candidate and the party’s continued support for the interim government of Prime Minister Jan Fischer. Regarding the first point, Mr Topolánek said in an interview for the daily Hospodářské noviny on Thursday that he would resign if the council held a vote to remove him from the ballot. Mr Topolánek has been under heavy criticism since the weekend for awkward comments he made regarding gays and Jews. The situation has provoked a row between the party chairman and Prime Minister Jan Fischer, whose Jewish faith Mr Topolánek noted when referring to him as a submissive leader. Mr Fischer has since said he would keep his communication with Mr Topolánek to a working minimum, and his son has left the Civic Democratic Party, accusing its chairman of anti-Semitism and homophobia. Mr Topolánek in turn has reiterated that he sees Mr Fischer as a weak leader.

Prime Minister Jan Fischer said Thursday that the Czech Republic supports the creation of a mechanism to ensure loans to heavily indebted Greece from the individual countries of the Eurozone. The PM spoke ahead of the first meeting of the EU summit, at which the union’s political leaders are expected to deal with the plan proposed by the European Commission. Greece said Thursday evening that a plan that met its requirements was evolving successfully. Discussions are expected to continue into the night. Berlin in particular has been hesitant to support the idea as the bulk of the money would come from Germany. Mr Fischer repeated that the Czech Republic, like other EU countries that have not adopted the euro, wants to be consulted on any decision made on the issue.

Prague representatives have approved the further development of the controversial OpenCard, a system set to replace municipal travel passes. According to the document passed by a meeting of the city representatives, the current travel pass system is to be phased out by the end of the year, and a subsidiary of the city transport company will be established to manage it. The card system has so far proven controversial, with accusations made that it cost the capital far more than it should have. Three audits carried out at Prague City Hall uncovered a number of problems. The Opencard project cost the city CZK 800 million but has not made any profit. Some fifty demonstrators met in front of City Hall on Thursday to protest the system.