President Zeman rules out amnesty before leaving office

President Zeman has said he has no plans to declare an amnesty at the end of his second term in office.  In an interview for Czech Radio, Zeman reiterated his earlier stand that pardons should be granted on a case-by-case basis. At the same time, he defended his decision to pardon for the head of the Lány Forest Administration, Miloš Balák, which has come under strong criticism. In the interview, the president did not rule out the possibility of appointing a new president of the Constitutional Court several months in advance. Experts say such a move may be legally uncertain, as the mandate of the current head of the court, Pavel Rychetský, does not end until August.