Czech High Court again reviews whether attorney should be removed from "machete" case

The Czech High Court will once again take up the matter of whether attorney Klára Samková should be removed from representing defendants in the so-called "machete attack" case. The incident in Nový Bor in 2011 injured three people.

A complaint against Samková was filed today with the Regional Court in Liberec by Romana Staňková, the new attorney for defendant Antonín Sinu. Presiding Judge Eva Drahotová communicated the news to journalists.

Doubts about defendant’s state of health

According to today’s statement by Judge Drahotová, Samková set a letter to prison management questioning Antonín Sinu’s state of health and his ability to testify. However, she was no longer his defense attorney at the time she sent the letter.

"I found myself in a situation that was unresolvable. On the one hand, I knew he [Sinu] was at risk of suicide, and there were other findings to indicate that my concerns about his health and life were justified. On the other hand, he was no longer my client. If someone perceives those communications as my violating my responsibility as an attorney, I have to say I would have written the letter whether I was his attorney or not," Samková said.

Romana Staňková, Sinu’s new defense attorney, disagrees with Samková’s procedure. "Given that she is actively taking steps and writing letters about my client in which she is reporting sensitive information about him, I am of the opinion that she should not work on this case anymore," Staňková said.

Samková stopped representing Sinu in December 2012 after he wrote her a letter from prison that was intercepted by the prison service. In the letter, Sinu partially described what happened during the attack, and his testimony contradicts what the other three defendants represented by Samková claim. Some of those defendants insist they weren’t even at the scene of the attack. Samková had to stop defending Sinu because of this conflict of interest.

"If a defense attorney is recused because of a conflict of interest, then the attorney cannot continue to defend any of the defendants in that matter. The attorney must not be able to abuse or exploit information received during the previous defense of the client," said Staňková.

Samková does not like the way Staňková is proceeding. "It has surprised me. It seems extremely uncollegial to me. I consider a battle between attorneys to be a particularly unfortunate way for us to defend our clients," Samková said.

High Court taking up the complaint

Staňková’s complaint was first reviewed by the Regional Court in Ústí nad Labem. "We evaluate the motion as meaning [Samková] is not recused from representing the other defendants. Sinu’s defense attorney, Staňková, filed the complaint as part of the protocol we are sending to the High Court," the judge said. The Regional State Prosecutor had also previously proposed Samková be removed from the case, but the Czech High Court decided in favor of the well-known attorney with respect to that attempt.

Sinu repeated to the court today what he wrote several weeks ago in the letter intercepted by the prison service. "He described how he got into the vicinity of the bar, what he saw there, what he did there, which persons were also there, and what was in whose hand," Judge Drahotová said.

Sinu claims he passed by the bar purely by accident and that he did not go inside until the incident was underway. "He insists he had nothing in his hands and that he tried to end the conflict," said the judge.

Samková says the charges of attempted murder are overblown for most of the defendants, as only one of the men assaulted suffered life-threatening injuries. "If my clients had really wanted to murder those people, it is clear from the testimony to date that no force could have prevented them from doing so," she said previously.

Unplanned, but deadly

A psychologist has testified that the attack was an unplanned event prompted by anger. A medical expert also testified during the previous hearing.

"The expert repeated the word ‘deadly’ several times. At least one victim’s life really was at risk. If he had not been provided highly specialized medical care, the results would have been fatal," Judge Drahotová said.

The machete attack took place on 7 August 2011 in a bar in Nový Bor. It was preceded by a conflict between the barmaid and two Romani youths who were playing video poker there. Three people were injured, one of them to such a degree that his life was at risk.

Four defendants now face charges of attempted murder and rioting. If convicted, the two older defendants face between 15 and 20 years in prison or extraordinary sentencing. The two younger defendants face sentences half that length. A fifth participant in the attack has been charged with bodily harm and rioting; if convicted, he faces between five and 12 years in prison.