News

A former top civil servant in the Ministry for Regional Development is facing a sentence of up to 10 years in prison on charges of accepting bribes. Proceedings against the former section chief at the ministry, Vladislav Koval, were announced by the state prosecutor’s office. Koval has defended himself with the argument that he was only testing whether a company boss was willing to offer a bribe and was prepared to stop all dealings with the company. Koval was connected with the ANO party which has since cut all ties with him. He could face a prison sentence and seizure of property if found guilty.

Prison sentences of five to nine years were handed down by a Zlín court on Wednesday on seven of the main players in the so-called methanol affair. Sentences of up to 21 years were originally handed down last year but appeals were lodged the Olomouc High Court which returned the cases to Zlín. Most of Wednesday’s verdicts for the seven defendants are a lot shorter than the original penalties. The methanol affair erupted in the autumn of 2012 when the first deaths were caused by spirits mixed in a deadly cocktail with methanol. Forty-seven people were eventually killed and around 90 seriously poisoned with the state at one stage putting a ban on spirits sales.

The opening concert of the 70th edition of the Prague Spring International Music Festival took place at the Smetana Hall of the Municipal House on Tuesday evening. The North German Radio Symphony Orchestra played at the curtain-raiser, becoming the first German ensemble to do so in the history of the Czech Republic’s biggest classical music event. Under the baton of Thomas Hengelbrok the orchestra performed a rapturously received My Country by Bedřich Smetana, which traditionally opens the Prague Spring.

The Czech and Slovak prime ministers, Bohuslav Sobotka and Robert Fico, have reiterated their countries’ opposition to the idea of European Union states being required to take in compulsory quotas of asylum seekers. The European Commission is reportedly planning to propose such a system on Wednesday. Speaking after a joint session of the two states’ cabinets in Prague, Mr. Fico said the EU’s position should be based on a voluntary approach and the decisions of individual countries. For his part, Mr. Sobotka said states knew best what kind of measures they could introduce within the framework of solidarity.