Klaus starts rejecting requests for pardon

President Vaclav Klaus has started sending the first letters announcing his rejection of requests for pardon, the Presidential Office press department said on Thursday. The Presidential Office has received over 400 requests for pardon, and Mr Klaus has so far settled dozens of them. Vaclav Klaus, elected president in February this year, has radically changed the method of decision-making on pardons. While his predecessor Vaclav Havel, often criticised for granting too many pardons, had consulted the Justice Ministry on them, and in some cases the Justice Ministry even decided itself, Mr Klaus says he wants to decide himself as the pardon is not a legal act correcting a court decision but a special act by the head of state.