The District Court for Prague 4 delivered its verdict on 7 October 2026 in the case concerning the extortion of cardiac surgeons Jan Pirk and Ivan Netuka of the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM) in Prague. The court imposed a fine of 50,000 korunas on former IKEM deputy director Jiří Malý and a fine of 80,000 korunas on former IT department head Petr Raška. According to the verdict, both men are also to pay Pirk and Netuka compensation for non-material harm of 20,000 korunas to each of the injured parties [3]. The verdict is not final; both Malý and Raška have denied guilt from the outset [1][2].
Background of the case
According to the indictment, between 2021 and 2023 Malý and Raška threatened Pirk and Netuka with compromising material in order to make them stop endangering their positions in the hospital's management [3]. The defendants allegedly threatened, among other things, that they had files on them and would destroy them politically [3]. According to the indictment, Raška also photographed, from Pirk's work phone, a text message from Netuka in which the doctor made vulgar remarks about the then health minister Vlastimil Válek (TOP 09), and Malý sent this message to the minister from an anonymous number in order to discredit Pirk and Netuka in his eyes [1].
Also originally charged alongside Malý and Raška was then IKEM director Michal Stiborek, who died in August 2025; the court discontinued his criminal prosecution [1][2]. According to investigators, Stiborek used forged documents to extort Pirk, documents purporting to show that the cardiac surgeon secretly held a stake in a company that won a contract worth one billion korunas at IKEM in 2012 [3]. According to the indictment, both Stiborek and Malý threatened Netuka with compromising documents, and at one meeting Stiborek stated that he knew people who "work with their hands," which the court assessed as a threat of violence [3].
Hearing and defense
In court, Malý denied that he had extorted Pirk and Netuka, describing the meeting with Stiborek as a discussion about resolving a problem involving expired artificial hearts worth 16 million korunas [3]. He characterized the case as the result of an effort by Netuka to seize control of the hospital's management and influence its contracts [3]. The case was also investigated by the General Inspection of Security Forces over suspected involvement of a member of the Police of the Czech Republic, but this was not confirmed [2].
Verdict
When announcing the verdict, Judge Jana Petráková stated that "the situation at IKEM had long been tense" and that the dispute "went beyond the notional boundaries of the IKEM environment" [2][3]. According to the judge, suspended sentences were not appropriate because a considerable amount of time had passed since the defendants' conduct and it represented a deviation from an otherwise orderly way of life [2]. The court found that the defendants' conduct had caused the injured parties an uncomfortable situation capable of endangering them both at work and in their private lives, and therefore awarded them compensation for non-material harm [2]. Regarding the credibility of Pirk's testimony, the judge said she had "no doubts whatsoever" about it [3].
Chronology
- — The Prague 4 District Court sentenced former IKEM deputy director Jiří Malý to a fine of 50,000 crowns and former IT department head Petr Raška to 80,000 crowns for extorting cardiac surgeons Jan Pirk and Ivan Netuka, the verdict is not final. ČTK / České noviny iROZHLAS
Sources
- ČTK / České noviny — 7 October 2026
- ČT24 — 7 October 2026
- Seznam Zprávy — 7 October 2026