Investigators of police object to court assertion regarding independence

The body that investigates violations by Czech police officers, the GIBS, has objected to the Constitutional Court’s claim that it is not independent, Lidovky.cz reported on Sunday. The court recently upheld a complaint from an environmental group which said inspectors from the GIBS had failed to investigate properly a police operation against ecologists taking part in a protest; the complaint also stated that the GIBS was not independent as most of its employees were formerly members of the Police Inspectorate, which it replaced. The head of the parliamentary committee overseeing the GIBS, Václav Klučka, said it was incredible that the court had asserted some connection between the agency’s staff’s previous employment and their independence.