The president rejected requests for amnesty for those convicted of growing cannabis

It was about his former fellow prisoners, because Dvořák himself was sentenced to six years in the past for growing cannabis and another eight months for threatening the Prostejov district court. After serving more than four years, the courts released him last November. For his former prison companions, he now wanted the president to pardon the remainder of their sentences.

“The President of the Republic decided to reject all five applications for pardon. The text of the justification was the same for all persons. The president’s pardon is not an act of controversy with justice, but an act of humanity and compassion,” Dvořák wrote to Novinkám.

He reminded that Pavel has not yet granted a single pardon in his 13 months in office, while previous heads of state were significantly more active in this regard. According to Dvořák’s statistics, Václav Havel gave an average of 12 graces per month, Václav Klaus 7 graces in two months, and Miloš Zeman an average of one grace in five months.

Released cannabis activist Dvořák: I was among murderers in prison

Crime stories

With the consent of the convicted person, Dvořák provided the editors with the text of the justification for one of the current negative opinions of the president, which is signed by his new chancellor, Milan Vašina.

“On behalf of the President of the Republic, Petr Pavel, I am informing you that after a careful assessment of all the circumstances of the case, Mr. President did not find sufficient reasons for granting a pardon to Mr. ZS,” Vašina wrote in a document addressed to the president of the association, Ivan Chalaš.

He added that the president decided that he would grant pardons “in very exceptional, primarily humanitarian cases, which, with their circumstances, will go beyond the possibilities of solutions that are given to the courts according to the applicable legal regulations.”

The chancellor added that the essence of the institute of pardons is not to review or replace the decisions of law enforcement authorities.

The president has received 341 requests for clemency since January. There are already over a hundred rejected

Homemade

The aforementioned five convicts received long sentences ranging from 5 to 8.5 years in the past for growing cannabis. One of them will be 73 years old this year and the other 71 years old. They are all sitting in the prison in Rapotice, where Dvořák was also with them before he went free five months ago. Already then in November, in an interview for Novinky, he described the cases of the two oldest of these convicts.

“I was there with two old grandfathers who got five years for 15 and 13 flowers respectively. That’s a terrible story. Seventy-year-old gentlemen who have lived a normal life all this time, and are among the murderers. Then you read that someone had 29 kilograms (marijuana) on the floor and was given a conditional sentence,” said Dvořák shortly before the release.

He and the named association gave a social guarantee for the convicts. As the main argument for the granting of pardon, in addition to the previous integrity of the five, the authors of the request stated the fact that the convicts did not cause any damage or harm to their health by their actions.

“They were convicted because they didn’t have a permit, but no one issues it. “Not only the applicants, but also their families are affected by the draconian punishments,” the document states.

One of the five applicants is said to be the first prisoner who was an official cannabis patient at the time of the conviction, namely at the Pain Center of the University Hospital at St. Anna in Brno. At the same time, cannabis is also allowed to be used while serving a sentence.

Dvořák already stated for Novinky when he submitted the applications in January that, according to him, the president could intervene in these cases. “Pensioners in prison, that’s terrible. I sat with everyone. Perhaps the two grandfathers had no idea that their colleague had cheated them and that he was a dealer. At the same time, they grew five cannabis flowers a year,” said Dvořák.

He himself sat for the repeated cultivation of cannabis at his cottage in Ospelov in Prostějovsk. There, in 2018, he grew 150 plants for medicinal purposes. Although the court did not prove that he sold a single gram of dry matter, according to the judge, the grower did not respect the original decision and violated the suspended sentence because he continued to grow cannabis.

Now, in a statement to Novinky, he lamented that the president did not find reasons for granting pardons.

“I do not understand that. In public, the president speaks so hopefully and sensibly about the need for regulation, non-regulation. He knows that such twisted criminal legislation violates human rights and creates suffering for hundreds of families,” Dvořák did not hide his disappointment on Wednesday.

The grandfathers are among the murderers. Cannabis activist Dvořák asks the president for clemency for five fellow prisoners

Crime stories