Court: DNA samples were taken from prisoners illegally

A court in Prague has found that the Ministry of the Interior acted illegally when it took DNA samples from thousands of prisoners in 2007. The case in question was brought by a convicted murderer, who was also filing for 300,000 crowns in non-material damages. The Circuit Court of Prague 7 denied the plaintiff compensation, noting that he had once given a DNA sample to the police voluntarily, but cited clear misconduct on the part of the Interior Ministry and the police in requiring and storing the samples. 16,000 DNA samples were taken from prisoners convicted of willful criminal acts in order to expand the National DNA Database used by crime investigators. The Ministry of the Interior maintains that the practice is in accordance with the law and will appeal the decision.

Author: Sarah Borufka