Supreme State Attorney: removal of state attorney not politically motivated

The Supreme State Attorney Renata Vesecka has said the dismissal of Radim Obst, the state attorney in charge of the corruption case taken against Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek, was not politically motivated. Speaking on Czech television on Sunday, Ms Vesecka said that the decision to remove Mr Obst from the Cunek case was not taken by her personally, but by the Supreme State Attorney's Office.

Mr Obst was replaced on Friday by another attorney over a procedural mistake. The move brought strong reaction from the opposition during a parliamentary session on Friday, which was interrupted after both Social Democrat and Communist MPs failed to push through a debate on the matter. The Social Democrats have accused the government of trying to manipulate proceedings and have said they may consider calling for a vote of no-confidence in the centre-right government. Mr Cunek has been under investigation for several months now over allegations that he accepted a bribe while mayor of the Moravian town of Vsetin five years ago.

Author: Coilin O'Connor