The Fritzl Case: European Criminal Law Sucks

Josef Fritzl had held his daughter locked up in a basement for 24 years. And he is the father of her six surviving children, as one baby boy died shortly after birth. Fritzel admitted the charges yesterday.

Common sense interpretation? Abuse, rape, incest … multiple occurrences of all of the aforementioned crimes. — Life sentence.

Oh, wait. Know how the victim got into the basement? She was lured in, doped and handcuffed there. Isn’t that kidnapping? — Capital punishment, for crying out loud…

Hell no. He ONLY might get fifteen years.

Under Austrian law, sentences are not cumulative. Which means the verdict shall be announced according to the most serious crime Fritzl is found guilty of.

The same principle applies in the Czech Republic. And it is a huge mistake. Manslaughter (the death of the newborn) plus rape plus incest plus kidnapping plus I-don’t-know-what-else would have easily equalled 65 years.

Czech Cops Can’t Help Foreigners, Test Showed

The Denik chain of affiliate newspapers conducted a nationwide test of patrol cops and cops-on-duty on several precincts. The journalists pretended to be foreigners who were robbed or who had a similar problem.

And the result?

In most cases the reaction to Is there anyone who speaks English? or to a more complicated sentences was – big surprise – the cop’s Czech version of Ah, too bad, I don’t understand a word or You gotta call the 112 emergency number. 

In a subsequent poll, 82 percent of respondents said cops do need to speak a foreign language, while only 18 percent said they do not. The Chief Commissioner of the Police promises changes: the street patrols in Prague [or in tourist-favorite locations] should have multi-language brochures that shall describe in detail what a victim of petty crime should do.

I see two problems with this issue:

• the “if you travel somewhere, learn something” principle: tourist guide books to many countries include pieces of advice like If you try at least some basic words, the locals will appreciate it and they will much nicer to you. I am sure when Americans go to Mexico, they say things like Gracias or Muy rapido, por favor. I am sure it would help if tourists tried at least some basic words. BUT THERE IS ALSO THE “PROBLEM B”
• English or other foreign language has been mandatory at high schools for almost 15 years and street patrol cops should know some of it. The police say that the knowledge of a foreign language is not mandatory for applicants. — Hmm, so why don’t you make it mandatory, I have to ask.

Notwithstanding the above, a cop who responds to a foreign language inquiry in slow and over-articulated Czech, thinking he will make himself more understandable, is an idiot!

Photo: (C) Ministry of the Interior

NHL In Prague: Rangers vs. Lightning In October

New York Rangers will play against Tampa Bay Lightning in Prague in October. The teams should play two matches: on October 4 and October 5.

The tickets are on sale and the cheapest ones are almost sold out. After a few hours…

Gotta say, they seem extremely expensive. The cheapest seats, which I believe is somewhere under the roof, cost CZK 1,990, which is $125. The cheapest ticket to the next (!!) Rangers game in MSG is $104.

The 2006/2007 league average ticket price was $43.13, Rangers game was $45.83 and Lightning game was $44.27.

I stand corrected: they don’t seem extremely expensive. They are.

Girl Pregnant With Classmate’s Father

Strange things don’t happen only in Austria [the Natascha Kampusch story].

A thirteen year-old girl from the town of Vyskov is pregnant with her female classmate’s father. The police are investigating the issue as rape and child abuse. That would be bad enough as such, but…

… the class teacher held a special PTA meeting at which she wanted the parents to vote whether the girl should be expelled from school! The parents were very disappointed and claimed they can not decide on the fate of someone they don’t even know. Plus, they had no idea how the girl got pregnant. She is in a hospital now and she should stay there until she gives birth…

I hope the teacher gets fired as soon as possible…BITCH.

Posts Would Not Display

I wrote two posts two hours ago that would not display here and I have no idea why. I am working on it. Thanks for your patience….

Each Parliament Session Wastes Paper Worth Two Million

A document is considered to have been delivered as soon as an MP receives it on his or her desk, says an obsolete rule the result of which is that all Czech MP’s shall receive all documents the deputies are about to deal with, iDNES news server wrote.

However many MP’s admit they don’t even read documents that they are totally unfamiliar with because they are members of altogether different committees. Plus, almost all documents can be found on the Intranet. And annual reports, say EIA’s are usually of interest to selected number of people – who, again, can find it on the Intranet…

Luckily most MP’s use recycling bins. But still – copying of the documents costs millions.

I gotta say the MP’s are not under a great deal of public pressure, since majority of Czechs does not recycle anyway…

Czechs On Holiday. With Czech Celebrities

This has to be the stupidest tourism-related offer I have seen in years.

Czechs who go on holidays to Croatia with the CKVT travel agency can enjoy the company of Czech actors, stand-up comedians, singers, etc. The noted personalities get their “holiday” more or less for free in exchange for their performance. The travel agency is advertising the performances on its website to attract clients…

I thought it was normal to go on holidays abroad to enjoy everything that is LOCAL and the only thing that this holiday shall have in common with Czech culture is a book in Czech that one reads on the beach.

But NOPE, there obviously are Czech yokels whose idea of cultural experience is visiting an hour-long performance of a Czech actor in a foreign country – and who will buy the stay BECAUSE of it.

It is like going to Aruba BECAUSE you can go to a Barry Manilow concert there…

Pathetic, isn’t it?

Hot Slovak Girls

A nice sample of will-you-marry-me beautiful Slovak girls can be found in this videoclip of dance band named Maduar who became famous, among other hits, for doing a cover version of Afric Simone’s Hafanana.

A lot of bikini action, so enjoy — before I bring some serious, quality-press news.

News Anchor Slash Liar At Work Today

TV Nova news anchor Reynolds Koranteng who lied about having graduated from high school was in the chair today for the five o’clock news.

In reaction to the discovery of the scandal, the station’s news director Martin Ondracek said to the Blesk daily that Koranteng might face sanctions.

In professional news business, sanctions means you are pulled off screen. However, in TV Nova news professionalism is measured only by viewer rating. And Koranteng’s news partner is Lucie Borhyova. If you check her out on YouTube, you might get the idea why Koranteng was not punished by on-screen ban. They would have to pull his partner, too which would cause small revolution in the Czech Republic, as the person who delivers the news is more important than the news content for TV Nova viewers.

Oddly enough, on Yahoo! Answers some reader also lied about their (MIT) education and now their question is whether they should leave the job. The reactions are even weirder…

Cows With Two Heads In Brno

If you are a fan of bizarre things, you should see what the University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno has on display. Its Institute of Pathological Morphology has a small museum in which you can see stuffed cows with two heads or six legs. There are sheep with four normal legs and a fifth leg that is growing from the back straight up…

There are approximately two thousand exhibits…

I don’t think the institute organizes normal tours like a normal museum does, but if you are really interested and if you try some of these contacts, you might be lucky.