Poll: Most Czechs are for capital punishment

Over 3/5 of Czechs are of the view that death penalty should exist in the Czech Republic, according to a poll conducted by the CVVM polling institute in early May and released Thursday.

Leftist voters prevail among those believing that the punishment is necessary.

Some 26 % of Czechs hold the view that capital punishment should "decidedly" be in the Czech Republic, while another 36 % are rather for than against it.

It is absolutely opposed by 11 %, while another 21 % are rather against it.

The remaining 6 % were unable to give any answer.

Leftist voters, in particular those preferring the Communists (KSCM), tend to hold the view that the death penalty "decidedly should exist."

Czechs with higher education more often believe that it "rather should not exist."

People voting for centre-right parties and Catholics are resolutely against it.

The view that capital punishment should be reinstated reached its peak in 1992-1994, when it was held by 3/4 of Czechs.

The minimum was recorded in 2002, when the agreement was only voiced by 56 %.

The number of resolute opponents of death penalty has been growing by the year. In 1992, there were only 13 % of Czechs against it, while this year, the figure stood at 32 %.

As reasons, they most often cite the risk of miscarriage of justice and abuse of the penalty in general.

The poll was conducted on a sample of 1,062 Czechs over 15 on May 6-13.

The capital punishment was cancelled in the Czech Republic in 1990 and replaced with the life sentence.

The last execution was held on what is now the Czech Republic on February 2, 1989. A 5-time murderer who stabbed to death his wife and children was executed.

Source: Prague Monitor, May 30, 2013

Slovak Court Commutes Death Sentence of Hungarian War Criminal Laszlo Csatary

A Slovak court has commuted a death sentence imposed on a Hungarian World War Two criminal to life imprisonment although he remains under house arrest in his native country, the prosecution said on Thursday.

Laszlo Csatary, 98, was found guilty in absentia in 1948 of whipping or torturing Jews and helping to deport them to the Auschwitz death camp when he served as police commander in the eastern Slovak city of Kosice.

He was sentenced to death and lived on the run for decades until Hungarian authorities detained him and put him under house arrest in Budapest in July last year.

He has denied any guilt.

The sentence was changed to be in line with modern Slovak law. Czechoslovakia abolished the death penalty in 1990, three years before its division into Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Kosice prosecutor’s office spokesman Milan Filicko said.

“Once the decision takes effect, the court will decide whether it will issue an arrest warrant or how it will get him to serve the sentence,” he said.

He said Csatary could appeal the decision, which would send the case to the Slovak High Court.

Slovakia’s Jewish community has called for Csatary to be extradited.

Hungarian prosecutors told Reuters three weeks ago that Csatary’s house arrest had been extended until May 18 and the deadline for the ongoing investigation was April 22, which could be extended if necessary.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center said last year it had provided Hungary with evidence that Csatary helped to organise the deportation of around 16,000 Jews to Auschwitz in Poland.

The transports came from Kosice, the eastern Slovak capital which became part of Hungary in 1938 and was returned to Czechoslovakia after the end of the war.

According to a Czechoslovak court ruling from June 8, 1948, Csatary was found guilty of deportations to Nazi death camps, and unlawfully whipping, torturing or killing people in 1944.

Source: Reuters, March 29, 2013

Most Czechs support euthanasia, death penalty - poll

About 2/3 of Czechs support the possibility of euthanasia and the introduction of capital punishment, according to a CVVM institute's poll released today.

The poll showed that church-goers are often against euthanasia and the death penalty.

While also people aged over 60 tend to be more opposed to euthanasia, capital punishment has lower support among university graduates.

64 % believe that Czech legislation should make euthanasia possible, 27 % are against it.

Nearly 2/3 of the respondents would like to have capital punishment reintroduced and 1/3 is against the idea.

However, in the early 1990s, support for the death penalty was higher, being around 3/4 of the population.

The poll was conducted among 1115 persons over 15 in early May.

Source: Czech Happenings, June 29, 2011

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