Lawyer claims Social Democrats still think they can influence police and courts

Czech lawyer Zdenek Altner has reacted angrily to a decision by the Social Democrat Party to file a libel suit against him and to also file a complaint with the Czech Bar Association. Writing on his own website, Mr Altner said that the Social Democrats were only taking this step because they thought they still had enough influence with the police and the justice authorities in this country to be able to bully and harass him.

Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek told reporters on Saturday that the decision to sue Mr Altner was in reaction to his claims in the media that the party was trying to destroy him and had blackmailed him. Mr Altner has been suing the Social Democrats for billions of Czech crowns, which he says is owed to him for representing the Social Democrats in a dispute over the ownership of the party's Prague headquarters in 2000.

Author: Coilin O'Connor