Hucin Petition

INTERNATIONAL ONLINE PETITION
FOR VLADIMIR HUCIN TO BE GRANTED A FAIR PUBLIC TRIAL

Constitution of the Czech republic, Art. 96 Par. 2, and Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Art. 38 Par. 2, not to mention the adopted international conventions and agreements that the Czech Republic (CR) committed itself to observe, declare the principles of court proceedings – i.e. oral and public hearings. As a part of civil procedure in civic society, a public hearing monitors the legal system of a country and thereby helps to prevent abuses.

The right to a public hearing is still, till this very day, by judicial decision, being taken away from V. Hucin.

The shameful Hucin case is already well-known even beyond the Czech borders. In terms of the prosecution of Hucin a closed hearing should not apply (Civil procedure code, §116, and Criminal procedure code, §200), and this is what we are witnessing now. The public can only be excluded if the hearing clearly jeopardizes state, business, commercial or official secrets, important interests of parties to a case, or the dignified course of the hearing, or morals. Nothing from the above applies in the Hucin case, especially if we want to build a healthy democratic society free from secret communist structures (and these, to be sure, continue to pervade the Czech state).

Under these generally known circumstances, a public hearing would, on the contrary, serve the public interest in cleansing the state. And it would prevent a return to totalitarianism in the future.

Vladimir Hucin is not, as it is known, bound by any professional secret; BIS released him from the obligation to maintain confidentiality.

Therefore we urge the President and the government of the Czech Republic to observe human rights as we stand on the threshold of EU membership. The Czech people cannot and must not try anyone behind closed doors without the presence of the public and journalists. A closed hearing in this case is unacceptable in the eyes of the European Union's own laws; and for those who respect democracy, it painfully reminds us of the years of communism and terror.

The names signed below thank you for your support in protecting fundamental human rights and for a public trial in the case of political prisoner Vladimir Hucin.

This petition will be forwarded to the following official Czech representatives:

Please, show your support by sending your name and place of residence on the e-mail address: hana.catalanova@worldonline.cz , and we will add that onto our list which is growing by every hour.