Retribuční justice soudí revoluci. Konflikty Mimořádného lidového soudu v Praze a Oblastní úřadovny StB v Praze v letech 1946–1947
Retribution Justice Judging the Revolution: Conflicts between the Extraordinary People’s Court in Prague and the District State Security Office in Prague in 1946–1947

Summary/Abstract: Tension between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior escalated from 1945 to 1948, stemming from the different social structures of their employees and different mechanisms of official practice. These conflicts on an official level grew into politics and formed the soil for an escalation of the disputes on a government level. Particularly strong aversion arose between the Extraordinary People’s Court (MLS) in Prague, the most influential retribution institution on a national scale, and the strongly political District State Security (StB) Office in Prague. The controversy stemmed from the fact that the Court investigated retribution cases independently of the police. Doing so, it found out that StB officers used illegal practices in certain cases. The Court also criticised the common practice of retaining persons in detention in excess of statutory periods. The controversy between the two authorities culminated in January 1947 with the decision of the Chair of the penal jury of the Extraordinary People’s Court Dr. Karel Černík to arrest two StB officers, Ladislav Čadek and Josef Volf. They were suspect of beating witnesses and tampering with case files. During the main hearing, the court publicly discussed police violence on the premises of the police section of the Regional Penal Court Prison in Prague in 1945. The employees of the District StB Office tried to cover up their colleagues’ deeds and sent a false witness, Jaroslava Ledererová to court. She was exposed and she confessed that her testimony was false. Still, media siding with the communist party accused the Court of trying to discredit the Ministry of the Interior and condemning the May 1945 uprising instead of Nazi collaborators.

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