Czech court finds former Prime Minister Petr Nečas guilty of perjury

Prague, May 27 (CTK) – A court has found former Czech PM Petr Nečas (Civic Democrats, ODS; 2010-13) guilty of perjury, the judicial database shows without specifying the sentence for Nečas in a Monday verdict.

The court decided through a penal order without a trial, the Infosoud database shows.

The state attorney accused Nečas of having twice falsely testified in a case of the Military Intelligence Service (VZ) misuse in favor of his current wife Jana Nečasova (formerly Nagyova).

The court verdict is not definitive, Nečas may still challenge it. Nečas’s lawyer Adam Cerny told CTK that they have not received the court verdict in writing but that his client will use the relevant instruments for his possible further defence.

If Nečas challenges the court order in eight days following its delivery to him, the court will have to deal with the case in a public trial.

A judge can issue a penal order without a trial if the produced evidence reliably proved the course of the case. By the order, a judge can impose a suspended sentence of up to one year in prison or home arrest, community service or a fine.

If a trial takes place, perjury may carry of up to three years in prison.

“The verdict has not been delivered to the parties to the criminal proceedings, which is why I cannot tell details about the criminal order’s content,” Prague 1 District Court spokeswoman Pavla Hajkova told CTK.

The court obtained the charges against Nečas on May 4 and decided three weeks later.

The VZ affair contributed to the fall of Nečas’s coalition cabinet in June 2013. One year earlier, Nagyova, in her then capacity as PM Necas’s Office, unlawfully tasked the VZ officers to shadow Nečas’s wife Radka. Nagyova, whom Nečas later married, later received a three-year suspended sentence for this plus a ten-year ban on work in high state administration posts.

The police accused Nečas of perjury last November.

During the previous trial of Nečasova, he repeatedly asserted that it was him who asked the VZ to shadow his then wife, because he feared for his family’s safety. The verdict on Necasova, however, mentioned that Nečas did not speak the truth and his testimony ran counter to the gathered evidence.

Nečas and Nečasova also face criminal charges in another case concerning their suspected bribing of three ODS deputies. If found guilty, Nečas might receive up to six years in prison for this.

Nečas, 55, is the only Czech prime minister to see his cases handled by court.