The Museum of the Memory of the XXth Century and the Czech Bar Association in cooperation with the High Court and the High State Prosecutor's Office in Prague invite you to the expert conference Rudolf Slánský and Co. - Justice and Political Trials, which will take place on 22 November 2022 at 10 a.m. in the historical courtroom of the High Court in Prague at Pankrác.
The period from 1948 to 1960 was one of the worst that the Czech and Slovak justice system went through during its existence. A total of 241 people were executed in rigged political trials during these years. Hundreds more were shot while crossing the border, thousands died in prisons and camps, and thousands more were convicted in subsequent trials. All this took place with apparent respect for the laws of the time and with the active personal participation of pre-war law school graduates as judges, prosecutors and, unfortunately, defence lawyers.
The conference wants to seek answers to the following questions: how was this possible? What circumstances led them to actively participate in rigged trials and to deny the democratic principles they were brought up to uphold? What led them to give the murders the hallmark of legality? The organisers and speakers of the conference are convinced that we need to remember even unpleasant historical moments so that, to use a classic phrase, we do not have to relive them. Justice Together wants to send a message to the world that it will not allow itself to do anything similar in the future... Be present at this powerful moment with us!
You can register to attend for free at registrace.slansky@cak.cz until the hall is full.
PRELIMINARY CONFERENCE PROGRAMME*
The whole conference day will be guided by JUDr. Vladimír Jirousek, attorney at law and former chairman of the CBA.
Morning programme
Introduction
JUDr. Petr Toman, LL.M.
Introductory remarks
JUDr. Robert Němec, LL.M., Chairman of the CBA
JUDr. Viliam Karas, PhD., Minister of Justice of the Slovak Republic
JUDr. Pavel Blažek, Ph.D., Minister of Justice of the Czech Republic
JUDr. Martin Puchalla, PhD., President of the SAK
JUDr. Luboš Dörfl, Ph.D., President of the High Court in Prague
JUDr. Lenka Bradáčová, Ph.D., Chief State Prosecutor
Political Processes in Czechoslovakia
PhDr. Jan Kalous, Ph.D., Director of the Museum of Memory of the XXth Century
Justice in Political Processes
JUDr. PhDr. Stanislav Balík, Ph.D., lawyer, former constitutional judge, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of West Bohemia
JUDr. Vladimír Bartoš, attorney for Rudolf Slánský
PhDr. Petr Blažek, Ph.D., Head of the Department of Historical Education at the Museum of Memory of the 20th Century
The Life of Political Prisoners between Sentence and Execution
PhDr. Aleš Kýr, Head of the Cabinet of Documentation and History of the Czech Security Service
Afternoon programme
Political Trials as a Picture of the Times and the Role of the Defence Counsel
JUDr. Tomáš Sokol, Attorney-at-Law, Member of the Board of Directors of the CBA, President of the Union of Defence Counsel of the Czech Republic
The Position and Role of the Advocate in Political Processes from the Perspective of Today
Mgr. Lukáš Trojan, attorney at law, member of the Board of Directors of the CBA
The conviction of JUDr. Vlado Clementis in the Slánský trial and the subsequent trial of the so-called Slovak bourgeois nationalists
JUDr. Peter Kerecman, a prominent Slovak legal historian
Years 2013 to 2021 - completion of the trial before the Municipal Court in Prague by the son of an enemy of the state
JUDr. Václav Vlk, Mgr. Eva Tomanová