Lawyer refuses to attend meeting called by minister to clear up who wrote Klaus amnesty

A lawyer at the centre of a dispute over who prepared an amnesty declared by former president Václav Klaus has said he will not attend a meeting that the minister of justice called with a view to clearing up the matter. Pavel Hasenkopf, who current president Miloš Zeman says co-drafted the document, said he had no reason to participate in a meeting with the media organised by Minister Pavel Blažek. Mr. Hasenkopf, a one-time advisor to Mr. Zeman’s predecessor, denies being behind a controversial section of the amnesty that halted the prosecution of several long-running cases, many involving alleged large-scale corruption in the privatisation era. Mr. Klaus has repeatedly said that he is the sole author of the amnesty.

Author: Ian Willoughby