The Šváb case concerns 21 people, including judges, delegates and players. The club Slavoj Vyšehrad, which managed to advance from the third league to the second, also figures in the case. And according to the file, Berbr as the head of an organized criminal group, Roman Rogoz, Tomáš Grímm and former player Michal Káník had to help him.
Berbr is charged with participation in an organized criminal group, bribery and embezzlement of money from the Pilsen Regional Football Association. State representative Jan Scholle proposes a seven-year sentence, a fine of 5.5 million crowns and a five-year ban.
During Friday’s hearing, Berber’s three defense attorneys tried to dispel all the charges. And they suggested that their client be acquitted. According to them, it was not possible to prove the said acts at all. “I feel like he’s counting on us all to pull down our hoods, put on our hankies, and enthusiastically applaud all of the DA’s comments. But I’m not going to pull down the rafters,” Berbr pointed out at the beginning of his speech.
The public prosecutor wants seven years in prison for Roman Berber
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He was involved not only in the indictment, but also in the media, the police and the public prosecutor’s office. And he strongly supported the current leadership of the Football Association, i.e. chairman Petr Fousko and vice-chairman Jiří Šidliák. “We find that Fousek is not capable of managing anything, the executive committee is called a non-executive committee by its own members. We find out that there is total chaos in FAČR. We find out that there is drinking in the national team and among the league referees. The management is unable to raise any money,” he listed.
In his testimony, he returned to the period when he was in custody. He described the conditions there as appalling. And he admitted that he had suicidal thoughts. “Time is your enemy. Thoughts of suicide run through your head. Not a few times, but maybe thirty times a day. You imagine your end. You think about how to do it, where to do it to be sure,” he emphasized.
He added that it took him more than a year to pull himself together, stop having night terrors, fear and panic. And to this day, he doesn’t feel quite fit.
Shootout during the referee’s announcement. Berber’s defense attorney leaned against the judge
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He repeatedly denied being a member of an organized criminal group, embezzled money from the Pilsen union and bribed someone. “I am fundamentally convinced that the whole case was made to order, to get me out of football and to criminalize me as much as possible,” he summed up.
Other defendants – Rogoz, former judges Jana Štychová and Jan Cihlář and former Litoměřice football official Martin Pýcha – spoke with their last words. All have denied guilt. In his short speech, Rogoz marveled at the terrifying sentence proposal.
“I said last time that I didn’t rape anyone, I didn’t rob anyone, I didn’t tunnel anything. But from the proposal of the sentence, I think that I had to do absolutely everything,” he pointed out. The verdict is expected to be handed down on June 19.
The lightning statement of the former delegate of Skála. Again he admitted that he had taken a bribe. He doesn’t remember more
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