The Prime Minister refused to disclose the schedule for the repairs of the prison in U. Hradiště

Prague - Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) refused to provide the mayor of Uherské Hradiště and ODS MP Stanislav Blaha with a schedule for the reconstruction of the local prison. The Prime Minister justified this by stating that he is not Blaha's subordinate. He made this remark today during parliamentary interpellations. The MP complained that despite Babiš's promises, no progress has been made on the prison reconstruction.

"I am not going to present anything to you; I am not your subordinate," Babiš said in response to Blaha's request. The Prime Minister repeatedly emphasized that he was responsible for initiating the repairs to the prison complex, which is to house the Museum of Totality, the district court, the public prosecutor's office, and the probation and mediation service, as the Minister of Finance in the previous government. "If it weren't for me, nothing would happen with that prison," he declared.

"The state did it for you; you have done absolutely nothing," the Prime Minister accused the mayor. According to Babiš, the entire reconstruction process is "in full swing," while according to Blaha, the prison is being reconstructed "maximally in the headlines of the media." According to the Prime Minister, the mayor of Uherské Hradiště is lying; according to the mayor, the Prime Minister's responses are prepared by "public relations specialists before the questions are even asked."

The Office for Representation of the State in Property Matters (ÚZSVM) announced in mid-year that it had had a detailed survey and documentation of all buildings in the area of the former prison in Uherské Hradiště completed. The surveying of the site will serve as a basis for architectural-historical and technical surveys and for tendering design documentation for the planned reconstruction. The office took over the site three years ago.

The reconstruction of the prison, known primarily for the brutal methods of investigators from the communist State Security against political prisoners in the 1950s, is expected to cost 436 million crowns. The prison has been abandoned since 1960, having ceased to exist during the reform of state administration. During World War II, the Gestapo used the prison as a gathering place for political prisoners before their transport to concentration camps. After the war, people's courts were held there, and public executions took place in the prison yard; during the communist era, people inconvenient to the regime were imprisoned there. The site has deteriorated since then.