Czech News Daily

The Czech Republic is back in the limelight. This time due to the controversial topic of castrating sexual deviants.

Shortly after the Czech Republic was criticised by the Council of Europe for implementing the castration of sexual deviants, a reporter from The Sun, Britain’s most-read daily, visited the country.

While the Council of Europe is calling for abolishing castrations, the tabloid calls for the opposite. In its Tuesday edition there is an article called British Paedos Should Be Castrated … Like Us.

Over four days, the reporter, Oliver Harvey, visited a mental hospital in Havlíčkův Brod, where he talked to four castrated men. As did sexual deviants who have already been released, they told Harvey that castration has helped them.

According to information available to Aktuálně.cz, the British public television Channel 4 will be dealing with castrations in the Czech Republic in a soon-to-be-broadcast documentary on the life of prisoners who are serving their sentence in Kuřim’s prison for sexual deviants.

Castration according to The Sun

The Sun’s article resembles a leaflet propagating castrations. The reporter is presenting stories of castrated paedophiles who are praising castration.

The article, which contains photographs of four castrated sexual deviants from the mental hospital in Havlíčkův Brod, neither brings any critical view nor provides any essential arguments against the surgery.

“Now I can trust myself and live close to a school,” says one of the Czechs, praising his situation. “I recommend the British paedophiles to undergo castration, too,” another says. “It will change their life for the better.”

Their testimonies in the article are supported by statements from Havlíčkův Brod’s sexologist, Želmíra Herrová, who points out that none of the castrated has relapsed.

At the same time The Sun reminds readers that the Czech Republic is the only country where surgical castrations are permitted and that Czech doctors are proud they can perform them.

The reports also mentions the Council of Europe’s criticism. However, it contrasts with the emotional statement of a father of a boy raped and killed by the paedophile Antonín Novák. “Nobody wants to attack the rights of paedophiles, but what about the rights of a nine-year-old boy who had his life ahead of him?”

The Sun closes the article with the reminder that the British Department of Health has just refused performing castrations, but voluntary chemical castrations are under way.

Four days in Prague

The mental hospital in Havlíčkův Brod, where there are currently 15 sexual deviants, four of whom have undergone castration, was not the only place The Sun’s reporter visited.

Harvey also met with men who had undergone the surgery in the past and who are now free. However, during his stay in the Czech Republic he did not meet with any of the experts who criticise the surgery.

The Channel 4 reporter spent two days in the Czech Republic. On the first day she visited the mental hospital in Bohnice, and the next day the crew went to the prison in Kuřim.

The psychiatry professor Don Grubin, who is preparing a project for the British government that would introduce chemical castrations as part of the sentence, also went to the Moravian prison where convicted sexual deviants can undergo this procedure.

“In Britain, medication is not part of medical treatment in prison. It is rather based on thorough psychotherapy,” he said during his visit. “I want the prisoners to have better access to medication within our project. I estimate it would be suitable for around five to 10 percent of offenders.”

The television team shot in the facility of the special Kuřim ward K9. The programme will, for example, show Grubin with one of the prisoners in his cell or with a prisoner who decided for surgical castration but then changed his mind.

The Channel 4 documentary, in contrast to the article published in The Sun, focuses on the effectiveness of chemical castrations. British viewers will see the documentary this week.

KDU-ČSL Chairman Jiří Čunek today announced that he won’t be submitting names for cabinet positions to Prime Minister Jan Fischer. He also proposed a means of dealing with the current economic crisis by cutting electricity prices. Details of the measures will be discussed with Jan Fischer on Tuesday. Current government legislation however doesn’t give any provision for influencing the price of energy.

With regards to the assembly of a new cabinet, Čunek underlined that the People’s Party (KDU-ČSL) won’t be nominating any of its members. Chairman of the Social Democrats Jiří Paroubek said on Thursday however that the ODS Chairman Mirek Topolánek had come to Fischer with names for ministerial positions from the People’s Party.

It appears that KDU-ČSL is somewhat divided in opinion. Contrary to the official party position, Minister of Finance Miroslav Kalousek, together with a few other parliamentary deputies support a new administrative cabinet. “Our position is clear,” declared Čunek. “We will not be nominating anyone.”

From today, energy company ČEZ will start giving customers Kč 1000 towards the purchase of new energy saving appliances. Customers of ČEZ will be eligible for the money for the purchase of new fridges, freezers and washing machines. The promotion will run until 15th June, or sooner depending on how soon the fund runs out.

ČEZ customers will be eligible for the discount only when buying in branches of the Datart and Euronics electronics stores, and must either trade in an old appliance of the same type or provide certification that it has been ecologically scrapped.

Energy company E.ON ran a similar promotion in 2007. Anyone buying energy saving washing machines, dishwashers, or Whirlpool combination freezers could save between 17% and 28% on presentation of an invoice from E.ON.

Public awareness over scrapping schemes is an increasingly important item on today’s political agenda in the  Czech Republic. Following the example of car manufacturers, domestic furniture manufacturers have also requested a similar scheme. They’re looking for state funded incentives of up to Kč 15 000 for individuals to trade in old furniture for new. Furniture manufacturers were, according to Tomáš Lukeš from the Association of Czech Furniture Makers , inspired by ČSSD plans for dealing with the economic crisis. The measures include government hand-outs of over Kč 30 000 towards the purchase of a new cars for owners deciding to scrap their old car.

Doctor Stanislav Kusý received tens of millions from the Ministry of Health as development aid for Zambia in spite of the fact that Ministry inspectors strongly advised against it.

Decisions over the portioning of the funds were shared with close friend of Stanislav Kusý, then Deputy Minister of Health Vladimír Dryml. Today Dryml is a Senator. And doctor Kusý works as his assistant.

The development aid began to flow in the year 2000. Kusý’s company Czech Aid was supposed to build a health centre in Zambia. After three years however it turned out that the money had ended up in other companies owned by Kusý and the Ministry of Health stopped financing the project.

At the end of 2005 however Vladimír Dryml started working for the Ministry as an assistant. He himself now confesses that it was as a result of his intervention that the money for his friend Kusý’s  African project started to flow again. Yet the leadership of the Ministry of Health at the time didn’t seem to notice a problem. Head of the department was then David Rath, who today distances himself from the project.

‘I told him: David, you’re not allowed to do that because it’s a violation of your political mandate. And that is money with which the Ministry should have nothing to do with,’ says Dryml.

And so financing of Stanislav Kusý’s state enterprise continued until 2006 when it was finally cut off by Ministry administrator Julínka. ‘We were more inclined to act, as doubts about the project had already come to light in 2003. The restrictions were made out on the basis that something wasn’t right, and that the budgetary guidelines had been broken. And maybe even the law,’ said Deputy Minister of Health Marek Šnajdr.

MF Dnes has obtained a complete audit of all of doctor Kusý’s ministry projects. The audit shows that there isn’t even a single year where everything was in order. ‘The financial grants that were provided weren’t used for the purposes which the submitted documents presented as the aims of the project. The internal audit shows the whole operations to be an inappropriate, ineffective and uneconomic drain on government resources,’ states the audit in it’s closing statement.

‘We’ve never seen this report, never read it, and none of us are familiar with it. It’s absurd how confused this situation has become,’ reacted Libor Šlauf , legal advocate for Stanislav Kusý to the report. Stanislav Kusý himself refused to comment. The state-funded Health Clinic is currently up for sale. The money will therefore end up in the Zambian publicly listed company Czech Aid Ltd in which Kusý is involved. Kusý’s lawyer didn’t want to disclose information about who the actual owner of this company is. Apparently he doesn’t know.

The person most responsible for causing the current political crisis is according to an exclusive opinion poll by MEDIAN the Chairman of the ČSSD Party Jiří Paroubek. He’s also the person who stands to gain the most.

From the more than 400 people questioned, 44% think that Jiří Paroubek is to blame for the crisis, whilst 41% lay the blame on Mirek Topolánek. Only 10% of those questioned hold President Václav Klaus responsible.

It’s interesting that more men find Jiří Paroubek to blame for unleashing the current crisis, whilst amongst women fault for the fall of the government is equally divided between the ODS and ČSSD leaders.

It’s largely young people from Prague and Central Czech that blame Paroubek whilst in villages and smaller towns people see Topolánek being at fault for the current situation.

As for the question of who stands to gain the most from the political crisis roughly a third of all those questioned answered unequivocally Jiří Paroubek. This view was shared by both young and old, and inhabitants of both villages and large cities.

Petra Paroubek, wife of ČSSD Chairman Jiří Paroubek, strongly denies that herself and her husband regarded Bohumír Ďuričko as a friend. Ďuričko was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison on Friday for the murder of Václav Kočka Junior.

According to Petra Paroubek the claims of friendship with herself and her husband were just a part of Ďuričko’s strategy in court to try to limit his upcoming sentence.

‘One of these claims falsely implied a friendly relationship with myself and my husband and raised suspicion of connection with our social engagements. He used this claim only because he carried out his disgusting act at a party for the signing of a new book by my husband,’ said Petra Paroubek, protesting against the fact that an event by the Paroubek’s has been in some way associated with the actions of the killer Ďuričko.

‘That he committed this crime of murder at the end of a book signing by my husband, provides a backdrop, which for some is an opportunity to express disapproval with the contents of the book, or with the social engagements of me or my husband,’ she said. ‘We have nothing in common with the murdering criminal Ďuričko, and neither myself nor my husband had a friendly relationship with him. I personally despise him,’ she added.

There’s many places in Prague which are possible to enjoy without getting out your wallet. Lidové Noviny have prepared some tips for ‘trips’ where you won’t find yourself besieged by hundreds of tourists and which won’t cost you a penny.

Prague Castle and Charles Bridge are indeed pearls of the Czech metropolis but they’re known to everyone. Lidové Noviny found 10 places which you won’t find in any tourist guide.

1. The narrowest street in Prague

It’s possible that you’ve walked by many times and not even noticed it. It’s the narrowest street in Prague - not quite half a meter wide. It’s so narrow that pedestrian access has to be controlled by traffic lights as it’s not possible for two people to pass each other in the street. It doesn’t even have a name, but you’ll find it not far from Charles Bridge near the restaurant Čertkova in U Lužického semináře street. Take care to make a good appraisal of your proportions. Employees of the nearby restaurant still laugh when they remember how a portly German tourist got stuck in the street a few years ago. Apparently she couldn’t go forward or even back. After a few aborted attempts they had to grease her up so that she could better slide between the walls.

2. Baby Jesus and his wardrobe

Do you have a secret wish? So head down to the Church of the Virgin Mary in Karmelitská street. The small statuette of Jesus there is said to grant wishes. And those who don’t believe in miracles can go and have a look upstairs where available for viewing is the collection of embroidered dresses with which many of the Nuns dress the statue of Jesus. No other statue in the Czech Republic can boast such fine apparel. Some of the dresses are inlayed with jewels and others come from the Orient.

3. Second floor of the Cathedral

Everyone in Prague probably knows about the view from the tower of St Vita Cathedral. Do you know however that the Cathedral has a high ‘balcony’ half way up on the inside which offers a completely different view? It’s called the triforium and has around it’s edge busts by Petr Parléř. It’s possible to obtain access for free by arrangement with the church management.

4. Underground Petřín

The summit of Petřín is literally riddled with tunnels from the mining of coal and water extraction. There’s a few places where you can get access to this underground labyrinth. The mouth of tunnel ‘22’ opens near the site-seeing path which runs from the cable car stop Nebozízek towards Úvoz.

5. Vaults of the Czech National Bank

The Czech National Bank on Na Přikopě has opened up its vaults and made made an exhibition there entitled ‘People and Money’, There’s a special display case containing one tonne of pure gold and examples of fakes. The exhibition is free for everyone.

6. In the footsteps of Apollinaire

When the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire visited Prague in 1902 the thing that made the biggest impression on him was a single stone - agate in the wall of the Chapel of St. Václav in Prague Castle. The agate apparently strikingly resembles a human face and horrified Apollinaire when he recognised himself in it. It was following this moment that he wrote the tale of the Prague pedestrian. The stone is there to this day.

7 + 8. Czech History up close

You can get a look here at the Mercedes of Reinhard Heydrich and the blood spattered shirts of  Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík who in 1942 carried out an attempt on Heydrich’s life. The Army Museum in Vítkov is open every day excluding Monday and entrance is free. Following operation Anthropoid the assassins took shelter in the moments leading up to their death in the Church of St. Cyril and Metoděj in Resslová street. It’s still possible to see in the crypt the hole where the assassins tried to dig their way out.

9. Villa of the Capek brothers

Do you want to see where the Friday Club met? The place which gave birth to so many famous cubist pictures and novels? So head to Royal Vinohrady to the Villa of the Capek brothers. By agreement with the Society of the Capek Brothers it’s possible in small groups to visit this unique house and its interior.

10. A dog kennel as a monument

This rarity is made available by the Prague farmhouse Cibulka. They’ve got there 2 historically listed dog kennels.