Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100Sat, 22 Aug 2026 01:26:03 +0200https://english.radio.cz/i-beg-your-pardon-mr-president-8069727© 2026 Radio Prague International One of the most controversial aspects of Vaclav Havel's presidency has been his use of the presidential power to pardon. Mr Havel has pardoned around 2,000 people, with some of those cases drawing a great deal of criticism. Now - as his term comes to an end - the president has been defending his actions. In an interview in the weekly newspaper Respekt published today, Mr Havel says that pardons are a question of personal conscience that essentially cannot be discussed. On the other hand, he believes that the power is a leftover from the days of the monarchy, and could be abolished. I spoke to Tomas Klvana, deputy editor-in-chief of the Czech daily newspaper Hospodarske noviny, and asked him to what extent the pardons have tarnished Mr Havel's reputation: encr@radio.cz (Cesky Rozhlas)webmaster@radio.cz (CRo Webmaster) https://english.radio.cz/sites/default/files/images/havel2_0.jpg?timestamp=1590253770 https://english.radio.cz/i-beg-your-pardon-mr-president-8069727 Radio Prague International Radio Prague International radio.prague.int@gmail.com clean 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9