Prague, 14 September – The District Court for Prague 2 has increased the amount of money to be paid by the Justice Ministry to former GDR citizen Thomas Bartsch. In the summer of 1989, he wanted to flee through Czechoslovakia to the West. However, border guards in Domažlice shot him in the knee. The man was originally awarded CZK 5 550, but after the Constitutional Court intervened, the judge has now awarded him almost CZK 80 000 more in damages.
“The Constitutional Court said the (trial) court should take into account the specific circumstances under which the injury occurred. I took them into account and finally arrived at the amount of 79 950 crowns,” Judge Petr Navrátil said on Thursday. The court based its calculation on a decree in force at the time, issued in 1965. “The Constitutional Court did not rule out its application. It only said that the court should take into account its certain shortcomings and find a fair solution. So I have again followed it. However, I decided to increase the amount to ten times,” Navratil said.
“This is the first court ruling after the Constitutional Court ruled on 19 January 2023 that citizens who were injured by Czechoslovak border guards while trying to escape through the Iron Curtain are entitled to extraordinary financial compensation. Compensation of about three months’ Czech wages or one month’s German wages is insufficient in my view and I hope that the courts will not follow the same rigid approach in future cases,” said Peter Rendek, PEMC managing director.
Compensation and rehabilitation of victims of the Iron Curtain has been carried out since 2017 within the Justice 2.0 project in cooperation with the German UOKG and the victims’ lawyer Dr. Lubomír Müller.