Chech Republic: Organized crime blamed for murders

The Police Presidium blames a spike in murders in 2006 on increased organized crime — but the division in charge of investigating the underworld denies the connection.

The Czech homicide rate jumped 24 percent in 2006. A total of 231 murders were reported, according to presidium statistics released Jan. 31, up from 186 in 2005. Deputy Police President Jan Chmelík told reporters that the number of murders connected with the mob increased as well, though he did not provide specific numbers.

Blanka Kosinová, the spokeswoman for the presidium’s organized crime division, followed Chmelík remarks a few days later by saying they were unfounded. “I don’t know what drove Jan Chmelík to such a conclusion,” she said in an interview with The Prague Post. “We do not think that organized crime is to blame for the increasing murder rate. Our surveys and investigations definitely do not prove anything like that.”

Chmelík said more international organized crime groups have gained a foothold in the Czech Republic, which Kosinová also denied. She detailed which groups are here, and which are most active and therefore priorities for police. She said Russian, Ukrainian, Balkan, Asian and Czech mafia groups have established presence. Authorities have recorded a decline in activities from Balkan gangs, which are mostly involved in human trafficking and the drug trade. Kosinová added that the Czech Republic has become a “quiet zone” for both Russian and Ukrainian gangs, who have divided their spheres of influence within the country. More worrying are Czech gangs, which she said are the toughest to investigate since they can wield influence in state administration. “Czech gangs have the most effective contacts,” she said.

It appears others also call into question the presidium’s claim that murders and the mob are connected. According to Alena Marešová of the Czech Institute of Criminology and Social Prevention, a closer look yields different conclusions.“There is no need to be in a panic about the number of murders,” she said. “Violence is not definitely on the rise in the Czech Republic.”
She cited institute statistics that show 25 foreigners committed murders last year. In 2005, 29 did. “I’ve heard these rumors of international gangs moving to the Czech Republic, but the statistical figures don’t prove it,” Marešová said.

The statistics concluded that, while the country’s murder rate increased last year, the number of total crimes was lower than in 2005, from 344,060 to 336,446 — a trend that has been unfolding since the 1990s, which saw an explosion in crime following the fall of communism. Josef Mareš, who heads Prague’s criminal investigations office, said there wasn’t a significant change in the number of murders in the capital last year. In 2005, 37 murders occurred in Prague; in 2006, 38 did.

Marešová said there were other explanations besides organized crime behind the national murder figures. “One is that the 2005 figures were very low,” she said. “It was nice to see them like that, but the truth is they were very low.” She also cited two killing sprees that drove numbers up last year: Petr Zelenka, the nurse who killed eight patients in east Bohemia, and Viktor Kalivoda, the so-called forest murderer, who killed three.

The Prague Post 7 February 2007