Czech press survey.

(From Czech News Agency)

PRAGUE, July 1 (CTK) - The Czech dailies today comment on the case of former Foreign Ministry general secretary Karel Srba, who was convicted on Monday of planning the murder of journalist Sabina Slonkova because of her articles revealing corruption at the ministry that Srba was involved in.

Srba has appealed the conviction and thus his eight year sentence is not yet valid.

Marek Kerles in Lidove noviny (LN) writes that on the surface, the Srba case would make an excellent Hollywood film, but that when the would-be director looks closer, no one would believe such a case could occur.

He says that in every American blockbuster, the evil character hires a professional killer for millions of dollars, who then goes out and buys the most modern weapons, spends months preparing for the murder and plans his escape in detail.

"And the Srba case? The ministry general secretary allegedly asks his friend, who he calls a pathological liar... to organise the killing of the journalist. This alleged pathological liar then gives the order to two men, one of which claims he is incapable of organising anything. And he's probably right. Both organisers then order the killing from a small-time criminal from Vimperk [south Bohemia] called Lemon who is known as a police informer in Vimperk. Is this possible? Would anyone believe such a story on film? Hardly. And this is what happened according to the court and at the end a young woman was to be murdered," Kerles says.

He goes on to say the film goer would then have to swallow even more and believe that Srba concealed weapons in his home along with thousands of dollars.