Prague, 25 January – The Office for Documentation and Investigation of Crimes of Communism of the Police of the Czech Republic has submitted a proposal to the prosecutor’s office to indict Jan Muzikář. Investigators say the former border guard colonel, who will now be 90 years old, is co-responsible for endangering, injuring and killing several people who tried to reach the West during the totalitarian era. Criminal charges were filed in 2017 by the Platform of European Memory and Conscience against serving soldiers, their superiors, and senior officials of the Ministry of the Interior and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
Jan Muzikář joined the Border Guard in 1955. In the 1980s, he served as chief of staff and first deputy chief of the Main Administration of the Border Guard. Muzikář has already filed a complaint against the charges.
“Through his management activities resulting from his position, he was responsible for the implementation of official interventions by Border Guard officers associated with the use of free attack dogs or weapons against persons who were illegally crossing the state border of the Czechoslovak Republic,” said Jan Lelek, the district prosecutor for Prague 1.
“This is essentially the same charge that was brought against Lubomír Štrougal and Vratislav Vajnar, but they died during the prosecution,” said Lubomír Müller, the attorney for the victims and survivors.
“It’s slow, it’s dragging on, it’s lengthy, but it’s terribly important. Every verdict on a specific act that was criminal moves us towards a free democratic society,” said for the Czech Television former Platform managing director Neela Winkelmann.
Platform’s big success: if sane, ex-Minister Vajnar will be sentenced for killing refugees