The Czech Justice Ministry is reviewing the outcome of a case of serial rape of a girl, for which the perpetrator received a suspended sentence, the ministry wrote on Twitter (styled as ‘X’), responding to a request from MP Barbora Urbanova to Justice Minister Pavel Blazek.
Urbanova (STAN) appealed to Blazek (ODS) over the procedure used by the Brno Regional Court, which justified the light sentence on the grounds that the girl did not experience serious consequences following the violence. However, Urbanova pointed out that the girl had attempted suicide several times.
Blazek said last Thursday that the Brno court would present the reasons for its decision after the verdict was delivered to the parties involved. After receiving the file, Blazek will examine whether the law has been violated and possibly file a complaint with the Supreme Court.
Seznam Zpravy reported that the Prosecutor General’s Office (NSZ) has also requested the verdict and will consider filing an appeal.
According to Seznam Zpravy, the district court originally sentenced the girl’s stepfather to three years in prison for rape and possession of child pornography, as well as CZK 300,000 in compensation for the victim. However, the appeals court upheld the man’s appeal and reduced the sentence to a suspended one. According to an expert’s opinion, the repeated rapes did not have a “substantial negative impact” on the victim.
However, the girl told Seznam Zpravy that she had been struggling with psychological problems for a long time. She is currently hospitalized in a psychiatric ward after a suicide attempt. Urbanova, who has long been involved in assisting victims of domestic and sexualized violence, is therefore demanding that Blazek explain the courts’ reasoning. “In particular, I would like to know the justification for such a mild sentence for a damaged young life,” the MP wrote to the minister.
Urbanova wrote on Twitter that she would request the wording of the verdict, and ask Blazek to seek remedy.
According to Novinky.cz, the perpetrator filmed the girl, who was underage, being raped. He then began blackmailing her by saying he would publish the video and photographs. He forced her to have intercourse and oral sex up to five times a week, which continued for two years.
NSZ requested the verdict on its own initiative. “After reviewing it, NSZ will consider the possibility of filing an appeal, although this is relatively limited by the conditions set out in the law for filing this extraordinary remedy,” NSZ spokesman Petr Maly told Seznam Zprávy.
According to Novinky.cz, the accused asked for his sentence to be commuted because he has to take care of his family. The appeals court upheld his request with regard to his personal and financial circumstances. However, the girl’s mother subsequently told Novinky.cz that she shares a household with the man only because her situation does not yet allow her and her other children to leave him.
The NGO Pod Svicnem (“Under the candlelight”) is now in contact with the girl to arrange for her accommodation and other legal assistance. It is also preparing a fundraising campaign.
“Today I spoke with the head of the Regional Court in Brno and I was assured that after the verdict is delivered, the court will communicate the reasons for its decision to the public,” Blazek wrote on Twitter.
He said the ministry had asked the court to send the file, and will then address the question of whether the law has been violated. “Only if the law has been violated can I file a complaint with the Supreme Court. I have no other competence with regard to the constitutional division of powers,” Blazek said.
In response to the verdict, Konsent and Amnesty International have called a demonstration to take place in front of the Ministry of Justice on Tuesday, 23 January at 6pm. “This case is just the latest of many where our judicial system is shown to be failing to provide justice for victims. We can no longer talk of mere excesses. Judges who judge sexual crime have no obligation to educate themselves on the issue,” the protest organisers told Seznam Zprávy. A further protest will take place in front of the Brno Regional Court on Thursday, 25 January at 6pm.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court vice-chair Petr Suk said today that the Czech court system does not downplay sexual crimes, and the approach is consistent with other European countries.
“Contrary to the opinion spread in the media and supported by some media professionals, it is not true that the Czech courts downplay sexual crimes,” he said, pointing to a study by the Faculty of Law of Charles University which found that rape is the second most severely punished crime. “The approach of the Czech judiciary is in principle not out of line even in the European context, even when it comes to the much-criticised suspended prison sentences,” he said. He added that while rape is one of the worst crimes one person can commit against another, each case had to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
According to many experts, the social perception of sexual violence in the Czech Republic is changing and the willingness of victims to speak out is increasing. A new definition of rape is under discussion, in which criminal legislation would abandon the concept of rape as forced or coerced sexual intercourse, and replace it with the concept of non-consensual sexual intercourse.
