Disinformer Jana Peterková called for the initiation of disciplinary proceedings

Convicted disinformer Jana Peterková today called on the Minister of Justice, the President of the Prague Municipal Court and the Czech Bar Association to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the judge and the lawyer from her criminal trial. On Monday, he also intends to address President Petr Pavel, ČTK reported today. Judge Věra Trojanová and lawyer David Lejček violated, in Peterková’s opinion, her right to a fair trial when they decided behind closed doors after riots in court.

“Through the e-filing office, I contacted all of these institutions today, except for the President of the Republic, to whom the request to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Judge Věra Trojanová will be sent by post on Monday, to the other institutions also by post again just to be sure. The filing date is today,” she wrote Peterkova.

On Tuesday, the Appeals Chamber of the Prague City Court upheld a two-year suspended sentence for former television journalist Nova Peterková for spreading alarmist news during the coronavirus pandemic. The decision was preceded by an incident in which a crowd of Peterková supporters tried to force their way into the packed meeting hall, chanted “Gestapo” and broke down the door. The judges left the venue and the session later resumed at another venue without the public present. Responding police detained two people and are currently investigating the incident as a riot, while the legal classification may still change.

Peterková blames Trojanova for leaving the meeting room without saying a word, without interrupting or ending the meeting. He claims that the surrounding commotion did not threaten the judge in any way, because there was a judicial guard around her. She also states that no one informed her about the continuation of the session, not even her former ex offo lawyer Lejček, so the court’s decision should not be valid.

The former journalist is convinced that the court management “absolutely failed to handle” the situation, due to insufficient organization. “This media-watched trial and Jana Peterková’s large fan base clearly declared the need for a hearing in a large courtroom so that the public’s right to participate in the trial is not unlawfully taken away,” she said. According to her, it was the duty of the judge to move the session to a larger hall.

According to Peterková, the judge also violated the law by starting the session without her presence. “The defendant – Jana Peterková – could not get into the interior of the courthouse due to the siege of the people and the long queue at the check-in frames. It was not a problem to instruct the security by radio to let the defendant in first, or to postpone the trial by 15 minutes,” says Peterková. It also bothers her that Trojanová did not let her confidant Rudolf Vávra into the hall. He is one of the people who were subsequently detained by the police.

The President of the Republic, the Minister of Justice or the presidents of the courts can bring a disciplinary action against a judge. In the case of lawyers, the disciplinary prosecutor is the bar association, or the minister.

The government also dealt with the incident. Minister of Justice Pavel Blažek (ODS) condemned the behavior of the crowd and evaluated the intervention of the police and judicial guards as professional. According to him, the situation is not such that a change in legislation is needed. According to him, however, in order to prevent similar incidents, there is a need to improve communication with security directors at individual courts.