Qatari Prince Not To Join Court Dispute

Prince not to figure in Czech judicial officials' dispute

Nejvyšší státní zástupkyně Renata Vesecká se připravuje na líčení v jednací síni Krajského soudu v Praze, který 2. června projednával žalobu vysokých představitelů justice v čele s Veseckou na stínovou ministryni spravedlnosti Marii Benešovou (ČSSD) kvůli jejím výrokům v souvislosti s údajným korupčním případem vicepremiéra a lidoveckého předsedy Jiřího Čunka. V rozhovoru pro Český rozhlas v prosinci loňského roku je Benešová označila za "zákulisní justiční mafii" a tvrdila, že se snaží ovlivňovat kauzy.



Princ nebude účastníkem sporu justičních představitelů

Prague - A Czech court has decided that Qatari Prince Hamid bin Abdal Sani will not be an enjoined party to a dispute in which he allegedly wanted to back a group of high judicial officials against Marie Benesova, shadow justice minister who labelled them "judicial mafia," daily Pravo says today.

The prince will not be an enjoined party to the court dispute, the High Court in Prague decided at a closed session last week. It halted the proceedings that were to enable Sani's participation in the dispute, the paper says, citing Benesova's defence lawyer Petr Hala.

A couple of years ago, a Czech court sentenced the prince for abuse of underage girls. Although the verdict was not definitive, Prague extradited him to Qatar, his homeland, where the authorities halted his prosecution.

The prince allegedly wanted to enter the dispute between Benesova and her opponents, headed by Supreme State Attorney Renata Vesecka, as he felt offended by the statements by Vojtech Cepl jr, a lower-level court judge handling the dispute, who last year stated that some of the judicial officials involved had inappropriately influenced Sani's case.

Stínová ministryně spravedlnosti ČSSD Marie Benešová přichází ke Krajskému soudu v Praze, který 5. června vynesl rozsudek v jejím sporu s vysokými představiteli justice v čele s nejvyšší státní zástupkyní Renatou Veseckou.

According to other information, it was not Sani but his former Czech lawyer Anna Vetrovska who wanted him to join the dispute.

However, Vetrovska failed to submit a document proving that Sani had empowered her to act on his behalf. As a result, the High Court dismissed her initiative as irrelevant, Pravo writes.

The decision removed the last obstacle for the High Court to start discussing the appeals proceedings in the dispute, seven months after the lower-level court decided that Benesova, shadow justice minister for the opposition Social Democrats (CSSD), need not apologise to her opponents for having called them "judicial mafia" mainly in connection with the corruption case of Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek.

The judge, Cepl jr, then said it was proved that the officials had inappropriately interfered in Cunek's prosecution. The officials appealed the verdict.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz