Otakar Motejl (10 September 1932;

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a tempera ...

– 9 May 2010;

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

) was a Czech

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicitor ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He served as the first

ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The Cz ...

from 2000 until his death in 2010. In 1998–2000 he served as the Minister of Justice.

Life

Motejl graduated from the Law Faculty of the

Charles University of Prague ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , underg ...

in 1955, and then worked as a lawyer in

Banská Bystrica Banská Bystrica (, also known by other alternative names) is a middle-sized town in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica ...

Kladno Kladno (; german: Kladen) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 67,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the region and together with its adjacent suburban areas has a population of more than 110,000. ...

, and

. Between 1966 and 1968, he worked at the Law Institute of the Ministry of Justice, then became a judge of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions ...

in 1968. On 18 December 2000, he was selected as

. In 2006, Motejl was elected into the

Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic The Chamber of Deputies, officially the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic ( cs, Poslanecká sněmovna Parlamentu České republiky), is the lower house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The chamber has 200 seats ...

for six years. He participated in the 2003 Czech presidential election when he sought the

Social Democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

nomination. According to poll by STEM, he was the front-runner in the primaries but was defeated by Miloš Zeman and Jaroslav Bureš and came third.

References

Czechoslovak judges Supreme Court of the Czech Republic judges Ombudsmen in the Czech Republic Charles University alumni Justice ministers of the Czech Republic Recipients of the Legion of Honour Burials at Vyšehrad Cemetery Politicians from Prague 1932 births 2010 deaths Candidates in the 2003 Czech presidential election Czech Social Democratic Party presidential candidates Czech Social Democratic Party Government ministers 20th-century Czech judges {{CzechRepublic-politician-stub