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Prague’s Supreme Court has handed a five-year jail term to Marek Dalík, who was found guilty of attempting to solicit a bribe in connection with a military hardware contract while he was an advisor to then prime minister Mirek Topolanek. Mr. Dalík was previously sentenced to four years for the same offence but was freed earlier this year over formal shortcomings in the original trial. His latest conviction came despite a change in his testimony. He was accused of seeking a bribe of CZK 50,000,000 from the company Steyr in 2007 to smooth a deal to buy armoured carriers for the Czech Army.

The Czech minister of foreign affairs, Lubomír Zaorálek, reiterated the Czech Republic’s priorities with regard to the UK’s departure from the EU with that country’s chief Brexit negotiator, David Davis, in Prague on Tuesday. Mr. Zaorálek told Mr. Davis that the Prague government wished to see the rights of Czech citizens in the UK preserved, continued good relations with London and the resolution of the UK’s financial commitments to the EU budget. For his part, Mr. Davis said there was a moral obligation to clear up uncertainties surrounding EU citizens living in the UK and vice versa. He said under current proposals Czechs living in the UK would have the same rights as British people, apart from the right to vote.

The trial has begun in Prague of a man accused of deliberately switching the medication in boxes when he worked for the pharmaceutical company Zentiva. The firm was forced to recall certain medications when the case came to light last September. The newspaper Mladá fronta Dnes reported that the defendant had switched the pills in two boxes in revenge for being informed that he was being let go by Zentiva. If found guilty he could receive a five-year jail term.

The Czech Army will commission more than 140 armoured vehicles in the coming years at a projected cost of 9.2 billion crowns (the equivalent of around 353 million euros) Defence Minister Martin Stropnický confirmed. The plan was approved by the government on Monday. Around 4.4 billion crowns will go towards buying some 80 lighter vehicles and 4.8 billion will go towards buying 62 heavier armoured transporters produced by Tatra Export. The deal is the largest of its kind put forward by the current government and the third largest army commission in the past decade or so.