Demonstration in Prague Demands Mandatory Training for Judges in Sexual Violence Cases

Hundreds of people took to the streets of Prague to demand mandatory training for judges handling cases of domestic and sexual violence. Demonstrators marched from Old Town Square through Klárov to the government and parliament buildings, chanting slogans such as "Don't downplay violence," "Fair sentences," and "Patriarchy belongs in the trash."

Rally organizer Gulová said that, following the example of other European countries, such training should become mandatory for all judges who handle domestic and sexual violence cases, so they can better understand victims' behavior and the consequences of violence for them, and avoid further downplaying the severity of such crimes.

The "Anička" Case as a Starting Point

The renewed demands were prompted by a high-profile 2024 case known as the "Anička" case, involving a minor girl who was raped by her stepfather over an extended period. After the Brno Regional Court's verdict, a demonstration had already taken place outside the Ministry of Justice calling for mandatory training for judges. According to Gulová, neither the ministry nor the judicial community has introduced such a practice.

She noted that despite repeated media coverage of cases where courts made rulings based on mistaken assumptions, which higher courts later acknowledged as errors, judicial self-governance bodies and the Ministry of Justice have failed to correct the situation. "We keep hearing that mandatory training cannot be imposed on judges and that they should train themselves. We've lost faith that this will actually happen," Gulová stressed.

In her view, publishing all final court rulings would allow society to conduct independent oversight and professional analysis of judicial practice, so people could clearly see what punishment for such crimes actually looks like in practice.

The Stepfather's Sentence and the Constitutional Court's Position

In the "Anička" case, the girl's stepfather was found guilty of rape, producing child pornography, and using a child to create it. The man filmed intimate scenes with his stepdaughter and then forced her into sex up to five times a week for nearly a year and a half. At the Vyškov District Court, he pleaded guilty, so the Brno Regional Court only reviewed the sentence — the original three-year prison term was replaced with a suspended sentence and a five-year probation period.

Later, the Czech Constitutional Court ruled that the Brno Regional Court had violated the victim's rights by giving the stepfather a suspended sentence for rape. However, the court did not overturn the verdict itself, citing, among other things, the limits of its role within the separation of powers and the specifics of criminal procedure.

Read also: Brno: what to see and where to go

Source: novinky.cz