Psychological torture is a serious criminal offence in the Czech Republic, and perpetrators can be punished by up to 12 years imprisonment.
For several months after my mother died, and I returned to Prague, the police appeared to have made a decision to largely stop the abuse and intimidation, and most police oficers I passed would pretty much ignore me. Then in the summer, it suddenly changed again, and virtually every one I passed would laugh, insult me, and sometimes clench their fists or motion as to reaching for their tasers or guns. And in September, as I was walking on a zebra crossing, a police car after slowing down as if to stop, continued and broke at the last moment and halted half-way across the crossing. I had managed to narrowly avoid being hit by it.
After watching my mother die in absolute agony from cancer over the course of several months, and now being utterly alone in the world, my body breaking down from the stress of what I’ve endured over the last 15 years (10 of them involving the sadistic police of Prague), I have absolutely no wish to go back to having to deal with this.
So what can I do to put a stop to this in the next few months, if the Police continue to abuse me daily?
- I will contact the Czech Public Defender again, and ask why they did not see my complaint as relevant. Regardless of their reply, I will submit a complaint in writing and deliver it to their office in Brno.
- I can forward it on to the British Ambassador.
- In the UK, I can contact the Law Society for help.
- I can make a complaint against Tomáš Lerch, the chief of police in Prague.
- I can seek legal advice as to the status of ‘psychological torture’ in the Czech Republic, and seek confirmation that psychological torture by the State is illegal here, just as it is in other civilized countries that have ratified the 1984 United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT).
In addition to the above, I can continue to work on myself and learn techniques and philosophies to cope with all of this. I can reassure myself that what they have done to me over the last decade, and continue to do to me, is very much illegal. Not just illegal, but monstrously so. Even if somehow torturing somebody half to death through extreme and sadistic psychological torture is not illegal in the Czech Republic, individuals such as Tomáš Lerch could face prosecution in the UK.
According to provision 1 of section 134 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 :
A public official or person acting in an official capacity, whatever his nationality, commits the offence of torture if in the United Kingdom or elsewhere he intentionally inflicts severe pain or suffering on another in the performance or purported performance of his official duties.
Provision 3 makes it clear that this includes psychological torture.
(3)It is immaterial whether the pain or suffering is physical or mental and whether it is caused by an act or an omission.