Kočka (54) and his cronies are facing blackmail charges: “This is not a movie!” he allegedly threatened the beaten businessman.
On Monday, January 23, after a delay of almost six months, the district court for Prague 4 returned to hearing the case, in which, according to the indictment, three men were supposed to blackmail a fifty-seven-year-old businessman for the transfer of a company, one of them is even accused of bodily harm. The name of the well-known Prague businessman Jan Kočka also figures among the defendants. On Monday, the court heard the testimony of the man who was involved in the incident, as well as the challenged businessman, who also appears as a witness in the trial.
The attacked businessman testified that the incident should have happened in his office, where three men in a luxury black car drove up to him. The main actor was supposed to be Petr Ř., who after several sharp sentences struck him twice in the face, the second one being so strong that the victim’s eardrum burst. “When he came, he confronted me and said very strongly that I sent something. He said something about the fact that now he will have to catch up, at that moment I already understood what I was talking about,” said the injured court.
“This is not a movie!”
According to his statement, Kočka and the second defendant were initially supposed to just observe the situation, and Kočka himself was to speak only later. “In that office there are pictures from the movie Corleone on the wall, and he picked up a pocketknife and started pointing it at the pictures and then he said to me, This is not a movie.” the injured businessman told the court. The visit was supposed to last only a few minutes, and after the three defendants left, the attacked businessman sought medical treatment.
Peter R. he does not deny the physical assault, he expressed remorse for his actions in court and stated that he acted in anger. He even sent the injured entrepreneur a letter of apology and financial compensation in the amount of 20,000 crowns for the damage caused at the beginning of autumn. On the other hand, the lawyer Jan Kočka denies guilt, who stated during his arrest in July 2021 that his client considers the accusation to be meaningless.
The dispute, which resulted in the assault, should have started because of the company, which the injured businessman had previously transferred to himself. According to his statement, Petr Ř should have had in it. certain interests that conflicted with the actions of the injured party. However, a company engaged in the provision of security is accompanied by a number of at least explainable facts. They were the ones that interested the defense the most, and most of its questions were based on them. The trial will continue with the questioning of several more witnesses, including the original owner of the company that caused the dispute.
The cat figures in a large-scale case of alleged tax fraud, which has been under discussion by the Prague Municipal Court since last March. 26 people and four companies are accused in the case, according to the public prosecutor, they reduced taxes by around 150 million crowns.
The Kočkovy family became famous, among other things, for organizing St. Matthew’s Pilgrimages at the Exhibition Center in Holešovice. In 2008, Bohumír Ďuričko shot Jan Kočky’s brother in the Monarch restaurant in Prague, and the court sent him to prison for 12.5 years.
The municipal court in Prague was supposed to hear the case of 26 people and four companies accused of tax evasion. Prague businessman Jan Kočka is also being prosecuted in the case, which the police investigated under the name Úklid. (February 28, 2022)
Author: ČTK / Šimánek Vít