Czech victims of domestic violence mistrust police

Czech women who are victims of domestic violence frequently fail to report their experience to the police, the daily Lidové noviny writes in its Friday edition. The paper cites an international survey by the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency which indicates that Czech women’s mistrust of the police in this respect is higher than in any other EU member state with the exception of Cyprus. According to the survey one in three Czech women were physically or sexually assaulted at least once in their life, which is close to the EU average. However, while on average 19 percent of European women report the violence to the police, in the Czech Republic the figure is less than half that number. NGOs which help victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse say the police often downplay such incidents.