Prague, 25 May – The Office of the Documentation and Investigation of the Crimes of Communism of the Czech Police (ÚDV) launched criminal prosecution against the former Federal Minister of Interior František Kincl (born 1941) on 17 May 2022. The prosecution is based on the Platform’s criminal complaint, from September 2017, against the last surviving members of the Czechoslovak Politburo and others for border killings.

The ÚDV accuses Kincl of committing the particularly serious crime of abuse of official authority.

He is alleged to have committed this by the fact that during his term of office (from 12 October 1988 to 3 December 1989), he “did not take any concrete measures” to prevent the Border Guard officers “from using firearms against persons who were illegally attempting to cross the state border of the Czechoslovak Republic without endangering the Border Guard officers or other persons in any way”.

The resolution names the specific persons (GDR citizens) who were harmed at the time and describes the actions taken against them. The victim Thomas Bartsch was wounded by a shot fired by members of the Border Guard on 21 July 1989 in the village of Sruby, Domažlice district, on the Czechoslovak-German border during a breach of the state border in the direction of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ÚDV also recorded a skirmish with border guards and the shooting on another victim, Günther Herbert Zeh. He was injured by Border Guards on 14 September 1989 in the village of Komárno, on the Czechoslovak-Hungarian border.

But also the case of Rene Röder, Steffen Schlegel and Heiko Schmotz. This happened on 22 September 1989 in the village of Nový Žďár, Cheb district, on the Czechoslovak-German border.

The ÚDV thus reconsidered its previous opinion that Kincl had not committed any act for which he should be prosecuted.

Three other living representatives of the former regime are also currently being prosecuted Lubomír Štrougal (born 1924), Vratislav Vajnar (born 1930) and Jan Fojtík (born 1928)

In their case, the prosecutor’s office – based on a ruling of the Constitutional Court – now requires new expert opinions on whether they are able to understand the meaning of criminal proceedings due to their age and illnesses. The deadline for the new assessments was originally set for 31 March 2022, then 30 April 2022 and now 5 June 2022.