Prague, 15 Feb – Former Communist Interior Minister Vratislav Vajnar (born 1930) is facing charges of abuse of official authority for the deaths and injuries of people at the Czechoslovak state border in the 1980s. The indictment was filed on 9 February 2023 by Katarína Kandová of the District State Prosecutor’s Office for Prague. This is the first time the case will be heard in court.

Vajnar is alleged to have committed this offence while he was Federal Minister of the Interior (1983-1988), by co-perpetrating an act of guilt at the Czechoslovak border

• on 30 October 1984, the death of František Faktor (born 1951),
• on 8 August 1986, the death of Hartmut Tautz (born 1968),
• on 18 September 1986, the death of Johann Dick (born 1927),
• on 12 October 1986, the death of Wolfgang Günter Hofmann (born 1953),
• on 23 August 1988, the imminent threat to the life of Uwe Lenzendof (born 1966),
• on 23 October 1988 injury to Ullrich and Kerstin Traurwein (born 1963 and 1966).

The indictment came five and half years after the Platform filed a criminal complaint against the leaders of the Czechoslovak regime for having set up the regime at the state border in direct violation of Article 12(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which explicitly states, “Everyone is free to leave any country, including his own.” (No. 120/1976 Coll.)

The other cases have ended with the death of the accused (Milouš Jakeš, JUDr. Lubomír Štrougal), or have been stopped due to dementia or delusions, which is subject to further review. (PhDr. Jan Fojtík, CSc., Ing. František Kincl)

Initially, the criminal prosecution of JUDr. Vratislav Vajnar, CSc. was stopped because of his dementia, but the Constitutional Court overturned that with its ruling of 3 December 2021.