The year 2008 in pictures

Přehled fotografií
  • In its flagship Ten O´Clock News program, the public broadcaster BBC showed a report which proved that the use of the infamous cage-beds continues in some of the Czech children care homes, despite the existence of a law which banned it in January 2007. A new law came into force at that time which makes the use of the cage-like beds in the social care homes illegal.
  • US based economist Jan Švejnar challenged president Václav Klaus in February´s presidential election. It took 3 rounds to elect the president and it was marked by many as the longest and most difficult presidential election in the country's history.
  • President Václav Klaus was reelected head of state in February after a long and exhausting election that saw lots of bickering and behind-the-scene dealings.
  • When taking his oath of office, President Václav Klaus said he did "not want to be a mover" at the local political scene. "The head of Czech state has significant powers. Traditionally, the office is held in high esteem, enjoys respect and influence. I will continue to be careful in using the powers given to me by the constitution, and rather conservative," said Mr. Klaus in his inaugural speech.
  • The long-awaited bill to compensate Czech churches for their property confiscated by the state under the communist regime was finally approved in January by the Czech government. The bill obliges the Czech government to pay 300 billion CZK to the churches.
  • During his February visit of the United States Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek awarded Josef and Ctirad Mašín at the Czech embassy in Washington. The Mašín brothers - sons of General Josef Mašín, an anti-Nazi resistance hero during World War II - together with Milan Paumer fought their way out of Czechoslovakia in 1953, having killed a cashier and 5 policemen. For some their violent escape remains a controversial issue and will never agree with the decoration.
  • Prague and Washington signed a deal on the US radar base in July. Jubilant US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice and her Czech counterpart Karel Schwarzenberg after signing the treaty in Prague.
  • The US would like to have the radar base fully in operation by 2012. Two thirds of Czechs are allegedly against the US base and the year 2008 saw numerous protests against the radar base. If you ever attended any of the demonstrations, you could not miss one thing: people coming from all walks of life united under the sun and one cause in their effort to tell their government what they think of the radar base. Communists, Greens, pensioners, punks, all mingled alongside each other. This one organized by Greenpeace was titled "foxes from Brdy against the radar base".
  • Jiří Čunek was criticized by the US State Department in its annual report on human rights practices across the world for his eviction of some 360 Roma families from Vsetín during his mayoral tenure. His case was included in the section titled Corruption and Transparency. In January 2008, Čunek from Christian Democratic Party stated at his party's conference: "Traditional Roma culture and its values are in many ways in discord with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." These words were part of his lecture on new Christian Democrats' social policy.
  • Roma families evicted from Vsetín two years ago by former mayor Jiří Čunek are living in tumble-down and damp houses that nobody comes to repair. So they decided not to pay rent anymore. Jiří then became the Minister of Regional Development, but he quit after numerous scandals. Now he is back in power again.
  • It all started as an artistic attempt to draw attention to the virtual nature of media reality. It all ended with seven members of the art group Ztohoven being taken to court and later cleared. Now, Ztohoven face up to three years in prison again and the show is not over yet. If they are sentenced to serve in jail, it will be the first post-communist case when artists end up in prison.
  • The only living singer in the Czech Republic who has been busy breaking hearts of women here and abroad for the last four decades  finally tied the knot January. Karell Gott married his girlfriend Ivana Macháčková, 36 years his junior, in Las Vegas, the American metropolis of gambling and entertainment. Gott gained his fame (and the title of the National Artist) during the period of communism in the former Czechoslovakia, although he also had a considerable following in the West Germany, Austria and numerous other countries where he was free to travel and perform unlike most of his compatriots.
  • While many Prague officials fiercely oppose Czech-born British architect Jan Kaplický's blob design for a new National Library and give it derogatory nicknames such as "sputum" or "phlegm", abroad it is receiving admiration and envy. Yet, Prague Assembly, dominated by the right-wing Civic Democrats (ODS) voted in mid-December to shelve what was to be the single most important gem of modern architecture in the Czech Republic.
  • "The Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and Treaty on establishing the European Community and Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union are not in conflict with the constitutional order," were the first words of Pavel Rychetský, chairman of the Constitutional Court during its session over the Lisbon Treaty in November. The Lisbon Treaty was submitted to the Constitutional Court by the Senate in March this year. Among fierce critics of the treaty and EU as such is also Czech president Václav Klaus. He warned the Treaty would reduce the sovereigntyof the Czech nation. It won't, said the Court. The Treaty is yet to be ratified by Czech MPs.