The prosecutor proposed a suspended sentence for the Libušín fire

Vsetín - The prosecutor today suggested at the Vsetín district court a suspended sentence for Pavel Pryszcz from Karviná in connection with the fire of the historically protected cottage Libušín at Pustevny in the Beskids. According to the indictment, the man caused the fire by neglecting the repair of the chimneys in 2007. He faces two to eight years in prison; prosecutor Jiří Sachr proposed that the defendant be sentenced to two to three years in prison with a conditional suspension for a longer probationary period, which is up to five years. Libušín, built in 1899 according to the design of architect Dušan Jurkovič, burned down in March 2014. The defendant refused to testify in court. The judgment is expected to be announced on Thursday.

According to the indictment, Pryszcz was responsible for repairing the emergency condition of the chimneys. He assigned the work to two employees who were not professionally qualified, and they lined the chimney in violation of existing regulations. According to the prosecutor, Pryszcz, as the responsible person, did not detect or eliminate the defects and issued a revision report stating that the flueways had no apparent defects. When the cottage was subsequently heated, high flue gas temperatures allegedly damaged the beams between the chimney and the wall in the kitchen, which later led to the fire of the building.

The prosecutor previously estimated the resulting damage at least at 38 million crowns. According to Sachr, the defendant's fault was fundamental in connection with the cause of the fire. "He was responsible for the proper execution of the work," Sachr stated today in his closing speech. According to the defense, several factors influenced the fire, and it is not possible to unequivocally determine the cause of the fire. The defense proposed the acquittal of the charges.

In his testimony from the preliminary proceedings, Pryszcz admitted that he did issue the revision report, but stated in the document that there was no connection made, which means that the appliances are not connected. From the photos after the fire, Pryszcz deduces that the fire likely ignited in the gutter area and not in the chimney. He concludes that subsequent inspections and cleanings of the chimneys were not properly conducted. The defendant did not use his right to a final word today, only agreeing with his lawyer.

The Wallachian Open-Air Museum in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, which manages Libušín, is claiming compensation for damages of over 112 million crowns, with the insurance company claiming over 38 million crowns. The museum decided to restore the cottage after the fire, which had been a national cultural monument since 1995. The construction of the new Libušín began in the summer of 2017 and is now practically finished; it is expected to open to the public this summer.