The court set aside the case of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš in the case of Čapí hnízdo for separate proceedings. Only the trial with MEP Jana Nagy will continue.
On Thursday, the Municipal Court in Prague set aside part of the Čapí hnízdo case concerning Prime Minister Andrej Babiš for separate proceedings. The server Novinky.cz drew attention to the decision. Last week, the MPs refused to extradite Babiš for criminal prosecution, so the trial will continue only with the accused MEP and former Agroferta manager Jana Nagyová. The prime minister said that he would support her, reports the correspondent of TASR in Prague.
- The Municipal Court in Prague set aside the criminal case of Andrej Babiš for separate proceedings.
- The case against Andrej Babiš cannot be continued due to non-extradition for prosecution by the Chamber of Deputies.
- The court will continue the proceedings with Jana Nagyová and the main hearing will begin.
“Today we decided to exclude the criminal case of Mr. Babiš for separate proceedings, because the proceedings against him cannot be continued at the present time and must remain suspended due to the decision of the Chamber of Deputies. In relation to Mrs. Nagyová, the proceedings will thus be able to continue, because the case of Mr. Babiš was excluded,” said the chairman of the court’s senate, Jan Šott. He added that the main hearing with Nagy will begin within one to two months.
Separated part of the case
The MEP is charged with subsidy fraud, which, according to the indictment, was induced by Babiš. The case concerns the eligibility of a subsidy of 50 million crowns for the construction of the Farmy Čapí hnízdo area near the village of Olbramovice in the Central Bohemian region. The municipal court in Prague has already acquitted both Babiš and Nagyová twice, but the verdicts were overturned by the appeals court, which also obliged the first-instance court last year to find both of them guilty.
Last week, however, the Czech deputies decided that they would not extradite the prime minister for criminal prosecution. His part of the case will not resume until after he is out of office. In contrast, Nagy was stripped of her immunity by MEPs last year. The prime minister said last week that he will support Nagy, pay all the costs and if he has time, he will also go to the court hearing. At that time, he again called the case a political process.
