Renata Horáková

NFPK Prize for Courage 2011 - 300 000 CZK

Renata Horáková entered the Znojmo City Hall as head of the assets department in June 2007. She found herself facing indiscriminate pressure from her supervisor, Municipal Office secretary Vladimír Krejčíř, after she refused to sign transactions uniquely disadvantageous for the city. Instead of protection, she was humiliated by Znojmo Mayor Petr Nezveda, who was instrumental in her demotion with no reasons given while she was on a leave in February 2010.

Vladimír Krejčíř arbitrarily changed the city council’s decision about her demotion to outright dismissal and insisted that Renata Horáková sign a resignation statement. When she refused to comply, Krejčíř resorted to threats. Eventually he coerced the council into finally sacking Renata Horáková. While still the head of the assets department she contacted anticorruption police and filed a criminal complaint against Vladimír Krejčíř. In September 2010, Krejčíř was arrested and spent two months in police detention.

After his release Vladimír Krejčíř continued to plot against Renata Horáková, then working several months in the archive of the construction department. He found an ally in the city’s new mayor, Zbyšek Kaššai, the winner of local elections. The two men found a way to get rid of Renata Horáková for good. Kaššai merged two departments into one and her position was cancelled. On 30 September 2011 she was released for redundancy. She has been unemployed since that time. In addition to Renata Horáková, Zbyšek Kaššai fired another three people, who cooperated with the police during the investigation of corruption in the Znojmo City Hall. Vladimír Krejčíř was charged and is awaiting trial, along with seven co-defendants.

Renata Horáková still hopes her open-ended story will be followed by legal vindication. Her fight is unique in the Czech Republic and deserves sincere admiration. Even though her bold action saved tens of millions of crowns for Znojmo, her reward was harassment, slander and dishonorable discharge. The Anticorruption Endowment has great respect for her resolve to defeat corruption and has offered her legal assistance. On 9 December 2011, International Day of Struggle against Corruption, we presented Renata Horáková with a Prize for Courage with a cheque for 300,000 crowns.