Communist ex-minister Kincl prosecuted over shooting at borders

The Czech police have launched a criminal investigation against former Communist interior minister Frantisek Kincl, 81, on suspicion of abuse of power over the shooting at Czechoslovakia's borders that killed or wounded people, the daily Ekonomicky denik and news portal SeznamZpravy reported on Monday. The Office for the Documentation and Investigation of the Crimes of Communism (UDV) accused Kincl, in office 1988-89, of the crime. According to the UDV, Kincl did not take any particular measures to prevent the border guards from using firearms against the people who were attempting to cross the border to escape the Communist Czechoslovakia and who at the same time, did not threaten guards by any means.