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While in Prague Lubomir Strougal was celebrating his court victory this week, another case in Germany was drawing to a close. The appeal against the life-sentence for a 90-year-old Nazi war criminal, Anthon Malloth was rejected by the German Supreme Court on Thursday. Malloth was one of the cruelest guards in the Terezin concentration camp north of Prague, and was widely known for his unscrupulous brutality and violent anti-Semitism. reports:

This week saw the culmination of one of the Czech Republic's most closely observed court cases in recent years. One of Communist Czechoslovakia's most prominent political figures, the former Prime Minister, Lubomir Strougal, faced up to 10 years in jail in connection with three brutal murders by the Communist secret police, the StB in 1948. Mr Strougal was charged with abuse of power, blocking the investigation into the murders when he was Interior Minister in 1965. But as reports the case ended in anti-climax.

The Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman had to face a barrage of criticism for remarks about the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat he made in interviews for an Israeli newspaper and television earlier this week. Although Mr Zeman claims he had been misquoted - possibly due to an ill-chosen phrase in English - his words caused a diplomatic scandal. By .