Final Word from Wednesday, June 8, 2016

After yesterday's Supreme Court ruling in the Zdeněk Altner case, it's appropriate that ČSSD should be signing a memorandum of cooperation next week with the Communist Party of China. The document doesn't say anything specifically about sharing the Chinese Communist Party's disdain for judicial independence and separation of powers, but it does say that ČSSD respects China's domestic political policies. One of these, according to Freedom House, is that the Chinese Communist Party controls the judiciary. "Party political-legal committees supervise the operations of courts at all levels," Freedom House said, "and allow party officials to influence verdicts and sentences." Party oversight is esp. evident in politically sensitive cases, Freedom House added. Andrej Babiš famously told the Financial Times that, "The party is me." Yesterday's Supreme Court ruling is a message from ČSSD to officials at all levels and to the public in general that, "The state is ČSSD." It's scary to think that it might be Chinese-like ideology, and not money, that bought the Court this time. [Czech Republic People's Republic Kč 338m judgement lawyer]