Ten years after Iveta Bartošová’s suicide, Josef Rychtář returned to the dormitories where his wife’s life ended. Rychtář gave an exclusive interview to Prima Ženy and the editorial staff of CNN Prima NEWS, where he again denied any wrongdoing. “I have a clear conscience,” the widower said to the camera.
Today is ten years since your wife passed away, it’s a day of tragedy, but it’s also the day you celebrate your birthday. Will there be a celebration at all?
I’ve never celebrated my birthday, never in my life, I’m not the type of person who would have to celebrate it with alcohol. It’s the day my beloved Ivetka passed away. And even if Ivetka lived, I wouldn’t celebrate her birthday.
How will you spend today? You go to the dorms here every year, you meet journalists here, you don’t like it…
Let me clarify, I come here every month on the 29th, except for February, which only has 28 days. I meet journalists when it’s about an anniversary and I can tell you that I don’t care at all. I come here of my own free will, because I still have feelings for Ivetka, there are memories, I’m not doing it for the media, I’m doing it for myself.
You will go to the cemetery in Říčany from Uhříněvsi, right?
Yes, I will go to Říčany to lay flowers and light candles.
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How will you spend this evening? Will you light a candle? Will you play a song by Iveta?
I’m alone in the evening, but Ivetka is always in my eyes, I have a photo there and an angel around me. I have Ivetka in front of the bed next to the TV, I look at her there, she is still with me. It’s been ten years, it’s gone like water, it’s a very painful day, thoughts come back to my head that I can’t explain what happened then, why she decided to take that step. A train passed here a moment ago, you saw for yourself how at a tremendous speed. I wonder where she got the will to do something like that.
Ten years have passed, do you think you would have done anything differently? Did he handle a situation differently? Are you aware of any errors?
You know, everyone makes mistakes in life. I probably should have communicated more gently with journalists, protected Iveta much more, perhaps used all legal means to protect Iveta from what the tabloids wrote.
One thing is media pressure. Iveta was certainly a sensitive, perceptive woman. But alcohol also played a big role in her life. Could you help her in any way?
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I did everything possible, which is possible in those domestic conditions. I dare say that I succeeded in a way. When we brought her from Italy, her condition was very serious. Until my own misfortune, I managed that she was not under the influence of alcohol or any addictive substances.
If you think about it today, if you could go back in time, would you try to contact some experts?
I would definitely not contact the experts. But I mainly blame her previous partners, I won’t name them, that’s where it all started.
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Today, if a person enters the name Josef Rychtář into a search engine, articles will appear where it is written: He is a murderer, he killed her, he got her into those dormitories… How do you feel when you see these articles today? For example, when you see an article titled Rychtář is a murderer, does his ex-wife Darina say?
You know, I have my own opinion about those people, they are poor people who somehow let this out of their mouths. I have a clear conscience in the sense that I would have forced Ivetka to take this step in some way, or helped her in some way or, God forbid, approved it. These are people who, from my point of view, do not deserve any attention today, I despise them.
Would you give any advice to men whose wife is unhappy and looking for support in alcohol?
That’s hard advice. It is necessary to perceive it as an addiction, it is a disease. That individual needs to be looked at as a sick person. And if the person does not have a will and does not want it himself, then it is difficult to solve. The public should look at the people who solve these problems as having a cause and look for the reason why that person actually solves the problem the way they solve it.
Looking for the moment when the first pain came?
Certainly. There was a moment when Ivetka fell into it and got bogged down in it more and more. I would also blame the managers who hung around, and those who were parasites on her and suffered in silence. All that line of people before I knew her, except perhaps the vet Mr. Hanke, who is a decent fellow, should be swept away from their own doorstep.
Do you have any strong fond memories of that everyday life with Iveta?
I miss her smile when she spoke to me, when she called me, her wonderful voice. And I miss her modesty and the feeling she somehow showed.
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How do you live now? You have a new partner, right?
After the experience with Ivetka, I don’t care about any popularity, it’s my private life, it’s my business, how I live… I try to live decently, I don’t want to express myself anymore.
What would you say to Iveta up there today?
I would text… I would text, Ivetka, I miss you…
Watch the special 10 years without Iveta on Monday, April 29 at 15:20 and 20:10 on CNN Prima NEWS.
