Three-year suspended sentence confirmed for former StB officer

Prague’s Municipal Court has confirmed a three-year suspended sentence for a former member of Communist Czechoslovakia’s secret police, the StB, for the beating of 17-year-old David Kazban during interrogation. Petr Beran committed the crime in January 1989 in connection with Palach Week, when demonstrators, marking the 20th anniversary of the self-immolation of Jan Palach, met to demonstrate against the Communist regime. Mr Kazban was beaten on the head, neck and back in the incident. Mr Beran was appealing an earlier sentence; his partner originally received a two-year suspended sentence and did not appeal; the latest sentence is binding but can still be contested under specific conditions at the Supreme Court.

Author: Jan Velinger