Brno - Chairman of K213, association for fathers' protection, Jiří Fiala was sentenced Tuesday to two months in prison for his contempt of court.
Fiala´s battle to see his children made him spent already three years in different court rooms.
The court in Prague 2 dealt with the system of "alternative justice" that Jiří Fiala and his colleague fathers created to protest against Czech courts' verdicts in child care cases and to teach the real courts a lesson.
The system of "alternative justice" simulates law suits and decides about custody cases, ruling in favor of fathers. The K213 members consider these verdicts more adequate.
It also "sets" the amount of child support and "annuls" verdicts by judges who are considered incompetent by the K213 members.
Each judge who has not taken part at courses and exams organized by the K213 association should be dismissed from his or her office, the K213 suggests.
Sentenced by Czechs, pardoned by Europeans
At the beginning of April, the K213 association members blocked the court room in Prague and brought a verdict ruled by the K213 which dismissed judge Helena Lišková from her position.
Judge Lišková decided earlier in favor of Fiala's ex-wife in the case of their son's custody.
In April, fathers from the K213 association came into her court room and put a poster across her door calling the judges to respect verdicts of the European Court of Human Rights in Strassbourg where Fiala succeeded with his complaints.
Other two members who helped Fiala during the blockade of Prague court room were sentenced to probation. All convicts can appeal the verdict at the Prague City Court, which they previously blocked.
The punishment can get more serious for Fiala because he is in probation until 2010 for another crime.
Imbecile - a fact, not an insult
Nevertheless, Fiala decided to be his own defense attorney and came across as harsh. He kept correcting the judge, gave him advice about where to get more evidence and referred to the judge of his other case as imbecile. After the judge warned him, Fiala explained that referring to the judge as imbecile is not an insult but a mere fact that he was able to prove.
The judge walked through all of cases on Tuesday in which Jiří Fiala was found guilty earlier.
All of them have some connection to Fiala's battle to see his children. Based on the verdicts, Fiala failed to pay the child support allowance, he attacked his ex-wife and threatened the judges who decided in favor of her.
Three years at the court
The most serious case, though, was an attack on the state prosecutor.
"I have been attacked by the court guards and the prosecutor claimed that they did not break any law and would not investigate the case. So I went ahead and did to her what happened to me since she said it did not involve breaking the law," Fiala said at the court house.
Jiří Fiala has been suing his wife for the past three years. Czech courts have not changed their decision even after a positive sentence for Fiala by the European Court of Human Rights. That court decided that the Czech Republic has violated Fiala's right to family, right to citizen's protection against the state and right to a just process.
The association K231 has organized numerous blockades, the best known is their attempt to prevent new director of Office for International Legal Protection of Children to enter her office. After her superior, minister Petr Nečas stepped in the fathers went ahead and blocked the entrances to the ministry of labor and social affairs.
