Impeachment of Václav Klaus
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The impeachment of Václav Klaus refers to a failed attempt by members of the Czech Senate to impeach the President of the Czech Republic,
Václav Klaus Václav Klaus (; born 19 June 1941) is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the second ...
. The case was eventually dismissed by the court on the grounds that his mandate had already expired.


Impeachment process

The President of the Czech Republic can only be
impeach Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...
ed in the case of an act of
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
(which is not defined in the
constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...
itself). The process must be initiated in the Senate, which has the exclusive power to impeach the president, and then passes to the
Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
, which determines whether the President is guilty or not. If the president is found guilty then they are stripped of their office and may not be elected president again.Ústava České republiky
Psp.cz. Retrieved 2013-07-12.


Background

Václav Klaus Václav Klaus (; born 19 June 1941) is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the second ...
was elected in 2003 and won his second term in 2008. His term ended in March 2013 as he was ineligible to run for another term. Before his term ended, he announced an amnesty to mark the 20th anniversary of the Czech Republic's independence. The amnesty took effect on 2 January and released all prisoners sentenced to one year or less whose sentences had not been served, and all prisoners over 75 years of age sentenced to ten years or less whose sentences had not been served, as well as cancelling all court proceedings which had been ongoing for longer than eight years. The amnesty was widely criticised by the public. The amnesty sparked a public petition to persuade the Czech Senate to charge President Klaus with
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
before the
Constitutional court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
, effectively impeaching him. Within 24 hours of its launch, it had collected 24,500 signatures, and by the beginning of February 2013, the petition had been signed by more than 64,000 people.


Impeachment

The process started on 4 March 2013, three days before Klaus' term expired. 38 Senators voted in favour, and 30 voted against. The court rejected the motion as Klaus' term had already expired and he thus could not be charged with treason.


Reactions

Constitutional experts were uncertain whether the former President could be impeached. Some experts suggested that the motion had little chance of success as Klaus' actions were unlikely to be considered treason. However, Jan Kudrna expressed the view that the motion had some chance. Severe conducted a survey of Czech lawyers as to whether Klaus was guilty; 75% responded that he was not guilty while 16.7% responded that he was. Klaus' successor
Miloš Zeman Miloš Zeman (; born 28 September 1944) is a Czech politician serving as the third and current President of the Czech Republic since 2013. He previously served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2002. As leader of the Cze ...
, who had not agreed with the amnesty, described the impeachment attempt as a "hysterical reaction" and "absurd". He noted that treason is not clearly defined by the Constitution but amnesty is a constitutional power given to the President by the Constitution.
Miroslav Kalousek Miroslav Kalousek (born 17 December 1960) is a Czech politician, former leader of KDU-ČSL and TOP 09, and has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP) since 1998. He served twice as Finance Minister in the cabinets of Mirek Topolánek and th ...
, known as a vehement opponent of Klaus' politics, condemned the impeachment attempt as "gigantic stupidity".


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klaus, Václav Václav Klaus Trials of political people Trials in the Czech Republic 2013 in the Czech Republic Klaus, Václav