Final Word from Thursday, December 4, 2025
The Czech penal code, in Para. 175a, allows for a defendant to enter into plea bargaining with the state prosecutor for a lighter sentence but stipulates that the defendant shall tell the truth when admitting guilt. Can anyone truly believe that ex-Board Member Matej Augustín of DP Praha transit company, who is cooperating with the police in the Dosimeter case, earned only Kč 1.2-1.3m from rigged contracts, as he testified in court? Would a person with compensation of hundreds of thousands of crowns per month risk a long prison term for a measly million? Plea agreements are the new sensation in Czech criminal law, and especially in cases that seem to have influential people at the top of the pyramid. In the Stoka/sewer corruption case now before Brno Regional Court, one of those at the top is allegedly MP Jaroslav Faltýnek of ANO. In the Dosimeter case, the list of possible high-level co-conspirators is too long to name. As the number of such political cases multiplies, it's going to become increasingly difficult for prosecutors to dispel the suspicion that the real purpose of plea deals is to protect people who never become defendants. [ Czech Republic justice system Dozimetr DPP ]
Glossary of difficult words
plethora - a large or excessive amount of something;
plea - a formal statement by or on behalf of a defendant or prisoner, stating guilt or innocence;
penal - relating to, used for or prescribing the punishment of offenders under the legal system;
plea bargaining - an arrangement between prosecutor and defendant whereby the defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for a more lenient sentence or an agreement to drop other charges;
to rig - to manage or conduct (something) fraudulently so as to gain an advantage;
measly - ridiculously small or few;
to dispel - to make (a doubt, feeling or belief) disappear.