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Czech Republic: phone bugged?

01 September 1993

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A bug found in the telephone of the Czech Republic's Justice Minister, Jiri Novak, was lost by an employee of the state Security Information Service (BIS). The head of the country's commission overseeing the security services said that BIS was not experienced at dealing with bugging investigations. He said that BIS was simply not structured to deal with bugging attempts by individuals or foreign intelligence agencies. The head of BIS denied that the agency had planted the device itself. This revelation was followed by another in which a newspaper reporter asked about an aborted plan to bug an employee of the Ministry of Trade. Under Czech law only the Prosecutor General can authorise either BIS or the police to install a bug. The new investigation is centred on who leaked the information as it is considered a state secret and illegal to reveal it to anyone, including government ministers. The Prosecutor General said that the journalist could face prosecution.

Prague Post, 29.9.93 & 6.10.93.

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