Czech Security Information Service files criminal complaint over leak in Russian ricin scandal

A massive investigation into the circumstances under which the information appeared in local media has been launched, the server states.

“Since some classified information leaked in recent days, which has affected our work, we have filed a criminal complaint,” Lidovky.cz quotes BIS spokesman Ladislav Šticha as saying.

“A previous investigation has revealed that the illegal leak of classified material occurred outside of the BIS,” he added.

The complaint was sent to the High State Attorney’s Office in Prague, whose head Lenka Bradáčová has declined to comment on the affair.

The server said the prosecutors would investigate who committed the crime of leaking classified data, which carries a sentence three to eight years in prison.

The lower house security committee has dealt with the case, too. It said it considered the reaction of Czech security forces to the possible arrival of a Russian secret agent with ricin in the country adequate. It also expressed support to the BIS when watching the activities of foreign intelligence services.

Citing an unnamed member of the committee, daily Denik N wrote that counter-intelligence chief Michal Koudelka had confirmed to the committee that a diplomat who cooperates with Russian secret services really came to the Czech Republic, and that he may pose a threat to the three politicians.

Koudelka said the diplomat is still at the Russian embassy in Prague and the Czech Republic has not expelled him yet because it does not have direct evidence that he is going to commit a crime, Denik N wrote.

Relations between Russia and Czechia have recently been tense.

And most recently, Novotny’s district installed a plaque commemorating the anti-Soviet Russian Liberation Army (ROA) that had helped liberate Prague at the end of World War II.

On Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček (for ANO) told Czech Television that the Russian threats to Prague politicians were unacceptable, but the government would only take retaliatory steps after the information were confirmed by security forces.