Final Word from Monday, January 6, 2003
MF Dnes wrote on Sat. that the Senate will likely decide this week to lift Vladimír Železný's immunity so that he can be put on trial for alleged crimes. Hospodářské noviny ran a similar report today. Právo, in contrast, gave Železný a front-page made-to-order interview today and quoted a Communist senator (and no one else) as saying that the more he looks into the matter, the more he's convinced that it's a political issue. Železný has been saying this for months, and in today's interview he indirectly accused MF Dnes and others of doing Ronald Lauder's bidding. Lauder, he said, wants to destroy him and is using the media and the Czech police to do so. Until recently, it seemed that Senators would refuse to strip Železný of his immunity, because TV Nova has such influence. But Železný's desperate interview today suggests that he feels his time is up.