It is not only ordinary citizens who violate the measures against covid. Security officials have also come into conflict with the law in this regard. One of them is a civilian employee working for the Hradec Králové Regional Police. She was infected with covid in October 2020, and even though she knew about it, she went to work, putting other people, including police officers, at risk.
On 19 October last year, the woman left her home and travelled to Hradec Králové by train. She then walked from the station to her job at the regional police headquarters, coming into contact with other people during working hours. She then walked back to the station at the end of her shift and travelled by train to her place of residence, and was therefore again in contact with passengers whom she could have infected with covid.
Her illegal actions were subsequently investigated by the General Inspectorate of Security Forces (GIBS), which charged the woman with intentionally spreading a contagious human disease on 31 May this year. And because the police worker committed the act during a state of emergency, she faced a significantly higher penalty, ranging from two to eight years in prison. The woman eventually settled with the court for a lighter punishment, and she was given an 18-month suspended sentence.
The policewoman, however, was not the only case among the security forces who GIBS investigators have dealt with this year for violating the Covid-19 regulations. Another case went to court which concerned a member of the Prison Service of the Czech Republic, a guard from the Bory Prison in Plzeň. “The officer had been ordered to quarantine by the regional sanitary station in February this year, and yet he was in contact with family members ” a GIBS spokesperson said.
The guard repeatedly violated the ban on going out and socializing with others, even endangering his two healthy daughters, whom he had taken into regular care from his ex-wife while in isolation. In addition, he also took them to school and did not notify anyone that he had tested positive for Covid-19. The girls could thus spread the disease to other children if they were infected.
As in the previous case, the guard avoided harsher punishment in the end because he and the prosecutor reached a plea agreement on guilt and punishment, which was finally approved by the Pilsen District Court last week. It imposed an 18-month suspended sentence with a two-year probationary period.