Reminiscent of the past regime? Constitutional Court president condemns spring border closure

The government-mandated closure of Czech borders preventing people from leaving the country this past spring was unconstitutional, Pavel Rychetsky, president of the Constitutional Court, told Czech Television yesterday.

The government of Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) locked-down the border March 16 after the first state of emergency was declared, due to what the he called a reaction to the coronavirus pandemic. At that time, it banned not only foreigners' entry to the Czech Republic, but also Czech citizens wanting to leave their own country.

"All of a sudden, the government closed the borders and no one was allowed to travel from the Czech Republic. This is absolutely unconstitutional," Rychetsky said.

Rychetsky said the state of emergency suited any ruling party(s) because it always opens many doors for control of the country. Unfortunately, under the state of emergency and similar emergency situations the judiciary is crippled because it must observe trial rules and does not have a chance of acting fast because it must observe trial rules and cannot act quickly, he added.

Rychetsky, a former colleague of President Milos Zeman, took the opportunity to comment on the Czech president's latest actions.

Rychetsky said he believed that when Zeman was running for president in the last election, he only placated the public to get into office.

"The public yields to various populist slogans and anyone wanting to win the post of president in a direct vote must use them. This is the tragedy of the direct vote. However, I am awfully sorry that he continued with this even after his re-election," he added.