The negotiations were accompanied by complications because Sovák was sick in court. An ambulance of the rescue service even had to take him from the building at Ovocný trh in the center of Prague to the hospital for treatment. However, after about an hour and a half, the paramedics brought Sovák back to court.
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“His health is probably not completely good, but he was able to be questioned and also testified about the matter,” Hájková told reporters after the trial.
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So she sent Sovák and another accused behind bars to the prison because of fears of influencing witnesses, and the remaining prisoners were prosecuted for the threat of escape. This is a foreigner who has ties abroad.
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Judge of the High Court in Prague Zdeněk Sovák was brought before a court. He sent him into custody.
Photo: Milan Malíček, Právo
According to the supervising public prosecutor Zdeněk Štěpánek, the case concerns corruption crimes, detention, legalization of proceeds of crime and abuse of power by an official, where it is possible to place up to twelve years in prison.
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“I will not comment further on the investigation, it is at the very beginning and it is not public,” Štěpánek added.
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Judge Hájková did not want to go into details either. “It is a complex case, a very sensitive case for the judiciary, so I would not like to comment on it now,” said Judge Hájková. She added after the question of Práva that the case is also about influencing cases. “Yes, I can confirm that,” she stated.
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In total, detectives from the National Center against Organized Crime (NCOZ) are prosecuting five people, and the well-known Prague lawyer Jiří Teryngel remains at large, whom he accuses of indirect bribery, according to his own statement for Police Law. Detectives didn’t even detain him. With the exception of him and Sovák, it is not yet clear who the police accused by name.
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The remaining accused police officers are prosecuting for accepting a bribe, bribery, abuse of power of an official and legalization of proceeds of crime, where it is possible to place up to twelve years in prison.
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The district court received motions from the High Public Prosecutor’s Office in Prague for a total of four accused and began hearing them in the afternoon. While three of them were brought by NCOZ detectives to the court complex in the center of Prague in civilian cars, they escorted Sovák in a marked police car with classic colors and uniforms as they have in the streets.
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He refused bribes
“No,” Sovak, almost 70, replied visibly tired, almost 70-year-old, to ask reporters if he was taking bribes. At around 6 pm, an ambulance from the Prague Rescue Service arrived on the court premises because Sovák began to have acute health problems.
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Police and paramedics brought him to the ambulance’s car in a wheelchair, and they had to support him as he got into the car. After about fifteen to twenty minutes spent inside the ambulance, the rescue workers decided to transport Sovák to the hospital for treatment. Shortly after 8 pm, however, he was back in court with the assistance of rescuers.
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Marked banknotes
According to Lidové noviny (LN), the group of accused persons around Judge Sovák was interested in the cases of the largest Czech construction company Metrostav, which has so far been illegally banned from participating in public contracts by two different regional courts. In these cases, the criminal section of the Prague High Court, where Sovák worked, is in charge of the appeal proceedings.
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“He expected to be a member of the senate that will handle the Metrostav case,” a credible source told LN, familiar with the details of the case.
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According to the Czech Television, the police also used a fake transfer to monitor the group. Pre-marked bribe notes were supposed to end up with Judge Sovák as well. “She found money. He had them at home, “added the LN source.
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Police raided a group around Judge Sovák early Saturday morning. Among other things, they searched some offices of the Prague High Court in Pankrác, where they were assisted by the local president Luboš Dörfl. The detectives were also in Sovák’s apartment in Letná, Prague. During the weekend, the detainees and accused were interrogated.
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