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Czech businessman Bohumír Ďuričko is to face trial for murder and could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. The suspect is charged with the murder of Václav Kočka, jr - the son of a close former aide to opposition party leader Jiří Paroubek. Mr Kočka was shot at close range at a Prague restaurant last October, the site of a book launch by Mr Paroubek. The incident took place in the evening hours, after the launch had ended; the Social Democrat leader and others had already departed. Mr Ďuričko has maintained he was defending his girlfriend, then pregnant, in the incident.

The Education Ministry is putting together material aimed specifically at helping teachers tackle 20th century Czech history, not least the 2nd half which Czechoslovakia spent largely under totalitarianism. Education Minister Ondřej Liška revealed on Friday that the ministry’s aim was to interconnect history with different disciplines, including literature, offering students a more complex picture of the times. While admitting that the teaching of history in many cases was “not up to par”, he rejected challenges by the Communist Party over how the communist period has been taught. The minister said that it was under communism that history lessons lacked objectivity and were “butchered” by Communist teachers.

The former president Václav Havel has been released from hospital, following his admittance on January 12 for breathing difficulties and lung-related complications. Mr Havel was released from the Motol hospital in Prague on Thursday morning. He has been allowed to return home, but doctors are maintaining that Mr Havel’s recuperative regime must continue. Václav Havel was admitted after developing breathing and swallowing problems. An operation was followed by complications which left Mr Havel in intensive care. A doctor that had been part of the team looking after the former president, said that the situation had been very serious and at one point even life-threatening. The former president suffers from chronic bronchitis and had part of his right lung removed when he was diagnosed with cancer in 1996. Reports suggest that Mr Havel was in good spirits when he left the hospital, telling reporters that he felt well.

The association of Czech pharmacists has urged its staff not to ask customers for prescription fees, and instead seek compensation for the amount from local authorities. At the same time, the association has announced that it plans legal action over the disparity surrounding the collection of health fees across the Czech Republic. The opposition Social Democrats who won the regional elections have effectively ended health fees in regional hospitals, reimbursing hospital pharmacies from local budgets, while other pharmacies still collect them. The ruling Civic Democrats, who introduced health fees in early 2008 as part of a controversial health reform programme, insist that pharmacies which do not collect health fees are simply breaking the law.