The report was presented by national security adviser Tomáš Pojar, together with GIBS director Vít Hendrych and his deputy for criminal proceedings Pavlína Foglar Marušincová. “(GIBS) came to the conclusion that none of the police officers or employees of the Police of the Czech Republic is suspected of having committed a crime. Therefore, it is not appropriate to initiate criminal proceedings and carry out an examination of specific factual circumstances.” said Hendrych.
During the shooting in the faculty building in the center of Prague on December 21, 14 people, including students and teachers, lost their lives. After the attack, the perpetrator, who according to the police was a student of the faculty, committed suicide.
The intervention of the security forces at the time of the killer’s rampage, which cost the lives of 15 people, including himself, raises doubts.
Why did the police officers visit the building on Palach Square after being notified and then leave? How is it possible that a criminal who suffered from mental problems possessed an arsenal of at least seven weapons, including long ones. “We will check whether it was a system failure or an individual failure,” i.eshouted the head of the Prague police, Petr Matějček, at a press conference shortly after the event.
The inspection recommended the police to make a thorough analysis of procedures and methodology so that they can better prepare for similar cases in the future. GIBS will send the police its proposals for methodological recommendations in certain areas, and will also offer experts with an impartial view who can participate in the evaluation of the police’s procedure, the head of the inspection said.
According to him, GIBS carried out the screening comprehensively. “We have things included in the methodological recommendations where we found that we see room for speeding up and making policing more efficient in such events,” he noted. Specific areas, to which the GIBS recommendations relate, Hendrych presents only at a closed meeting of the committee, which followed a roughly hour-long introductory debate, to which the media and the public had access.
One of the survivors also took part in the debate, criticizing GIBS for not communicating with the relatives of the shooting victims. He himself sent an e-mail to the inspectorate, to which, according to him, he has not yet received a reply. “We would like to say something to make things better, but we didn’t get the space from GIBS,” stated He also asked the representatives of the inspection whether they believed that its report was complete.
“We had to end the investigation to unblock the police. The police would not be able to inform without our termination, so this is an important step where the matter can start to be communicated in some way.” said Hendrych. According to Deputy Director for Criminal Procedure Pavlína Foglar Marušincová, GIBS is preparing a response to the letter. “We will be happy to meet with you and discuss the information we will be able to share with you,” she said.
“We requested the information we needed for our investigation through the supervisory prosecutor. (…) We received all the information that was necessary for our investigation,” added the deputy.
The head of GIBS Hendrych also stated that the inspection is troubled by the FF UK case as well as other cases leaks of information from members or employees of the security forces. In this case, according to him, the leaks were not at the level of criminal law, they were dealt with by the internal control of the police. Hendrych appealed to all those involved to realize the harmfulness of such actions. According to him, the space is opened for preventive or security measures to prevent information leaks.
According to Hendrych, GIBS evaluated 1,000 pages of documents or camera recordings, which were about 100 to 200 gigabytes (GB). The final report in classified mode is about 50 pages long.
Doubts of survivors
However, not only politicians are in doubt, but also survivors. For example, the mother of the late Eliška, Lenka Šimůnková, complained about the communication of the police, and even to President Petr Pavel. “My daughter only went to school!!! Elinka was supposed to celebrate her 21st birthday on 1/26/2024. I have not absorbed and I will never absorb that monstrous, monstrous day,” she writes in a letter provided to Seznam Zprávám. “Is it really possible that I still don’t know anything, nothing is being answered? Not even simple questions? All I hear is silence. Deafening silence. Should I wait. I’m waiting. But I’m full of emotions! A complete lack of understanding that if one asks for the truth, it is actually wrong,” he complains further in the letter.
The castle responded by inviting the survivors directly to the president. “I can hardly imagine the loss and pain that you and other parents who have lost their children in the tragedy are going through. I would very much welcome the opportunity to hear your experiences and those of other survivors. In the coming days, you and the other surviving families will receive an invitation from me to this meeting, I hope you will accept this offer and be able to participate,” replied the head of state.
“After carrying out an investigation, GIBS came to the conclusion that none of the policemen or employees of the Police of the Czech Republic is suspected of having committed a crime,” said inspection director Vít Henrych at Thursday’s meeting of the safety committee. At the same time, he suggested updating police procedures and methodologies. However, he kept the details for the private part of the meeting.
Police President Martin Vondrášek also commented on the confusion in the Blesku Hřáiči program. He acknowledged that the police could have been better prepared for the intervention. The police say they intend to deal with the improvement. But that won’t be free either.
“For us, it’s definitely the retrofitting of police officers with ballistics on a larger scale. We have to replace and supplement the long weapons, we have to complete the construction of a unified analytical tool, i.e. a kind of analytical roof over several dozen information systems that we have, and of course we have to continue special training, for which we need shooting ranges. We also need a training center, and we discussed this with the army and the military police, and we are in agreement on co-financing from defense spending and joint use,” Vondrášek said.
According to Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN), the proper investigation by the public prosecutor’s office could also be over this month. That should be the end of the terrible act in which the killer took the lives of 14 young students at the Faculty of Philosophy.