Ombudsman’s office dealt with record number of complaints last year

The Czech ombudsman’s office dealt with over 7,000 complaints last year, the largest number since the office’s founding. The numbers come from the office’s report to the Petitions Committee of Parliament made on Thursday and show an increase of more than a thousand complaints since 2007. The complaints most often dealt with social security and court delays and only about a third of them fell within the ombudsman’s competencies. The late ombudsman Otakar Motejl proposed 16 legislative changes as a result of the complaints. The office of ombudsman, which defends people who feel wronged by authorities, was taken up Pavel Varvařovský earlier this month.