Zeman’s initiative to investigate possible sabotage went to the prosecutors in Prague
At the end of June, the President submitted an initiative to investigate possible sabotage during his illness to Pavlo Blažek (ODS) of the Ministry of Justice, who subsequently stated that he does not have the authority to investigate the initiative, so he does not have it before the Supreme Representative.
“I can confirm that the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office received the submission of the President of the Republic and, based on an assessment of substantive and local jurisdiction, forwarded it to the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office in Prague, which will re-evaluate its nature and content and decide on the next course of action,” said Malý.
In the initiative of the president, he stated that, as the directly elected head of state, he was forced to face an attempt to deprive him of his powers. The President of the Senate, Miloš Vystrčil (ODS), called the initiative “almost stupid”, because according to him, it leads to something that did not happen.
According to Zeman, the sabotage could have happened in September or November of last year. “From the very beginning, it was a matter of false information about the real state of health of the president of the republic, which ultimately initiated the process by which the most important representative of the sovereign people was supposed to strip him of his constitutional powers, which was supposed to damage the constitutional establishment of the Czech Republic, and that for abusing the position of persons from the ranks of doctors, some senators, and even the academic community,” the president’s spokesman Jiří Ovčáček said earlier.
On October 10 last year, the day after the parliamentary elections, Zeman was transferred to the intensive care clinic of Prague’s Central Military Hospital (ÚVN). According to the doctors’ reports, which Vystrčil later received from the ÚVN and published, Zeman was unable to perform his work duties at the time. In addition, the long-term prognosis of his state of health was extremely uncertain, the doctors stated at the time.
Some senators and deputies therefore began to consider the temporary transfer of part of the powers of the president to the chairman of the House of Representatives and the government, according to Article 66 of the constitution. Some also criticized the way in which the castle office was informed about Zeman’s hospitalization and state of health.
In mid-February, in an interview for Mladá fronta Dnes, Zeman called the efforts to transfer power an attempted coup. In response, Vystrčil said that he acted as the constitution commanded him and as the president of the Senate should act, if the public does not have information about the health of the highest constitutional official, he is entitled to it.