Social Democrats to file libel suit and complaint against Altner

Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek told reporters on Saturday that his party plans to file a libel suit against lawyer Zdenek Altner and to also lodge a complaint against him with the Czech Bar Association. Mr Paroubek said the move was in reaction to Mr Altner's claims in the media that the party was trying to destroy him and had blackmailed him.

Mr Altner has been suing the Social Democrats for billions of Czech crowns, which he says is owed to him for representing the Social Democrats in a dispute over the ownership of the party's Prague headquarters in 2000.