Exhumation of Jan Masaryk's remains after 78 years: police investigate murder
Czech police have reopened the case of Jan Masaryk's death on suspicion of murder. At the beginning of September, experts are to exhume his remains in Lány.
Masaryk's mysterious death returns: exhumation planned for September
Czech police have reopened the case of Jan Masaryk on suspicion of murder. At the beginning of September, experts are to exhume his remains held in the family vault in Lány — according to a report issued on Friday by news server iRozhlas.cz citing sources close to the investigation, Nový Čas reports.
Masaryk, son of the first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and former foreign minister, died on the night of 9 to 10 March 1948. His body was found on the courtyard pavement of Černín Palace in Prague — beneath a window of the bathroom of his flat on the second floor of the building, which at that time housed the foreign ministry.
Three versions, no certainty
The communist regime, which had taken power in Czechoslovakia shortly before — in February 1948 — closed the case as suicide. Over the following decades, further explanations emerged: murder or an unfortunate accident. None of these versions has been definitively confirmed or refuted thus far.
A fundamental turning point came in January this year, when police reopened the case. The impetus came from new diplomatic and intelligence archive documents discovered in the USA, Great Britain and France.
"The reopening of the case was prompted by the discovery of new diplomatic and intelligence archives from the USA, Great Britain and France. The aim is to compare this new information with the facts established to date and thereby uncover any new connections that might provide answers to some long-unanswered questions," explained top commissioner Iveta Kořínková in January.
Prague authorities carry out further actions
Prague authorities involved in criminal proceedings are currently taking further steps aimed at verifying new findings and hypotheses. A spokesman for the Municipal Public Prosecutor's Office in Prague, Aleš Cimbala, described them as follows:
"Further necessary actions are currently being carried out, which correspond to the need to settle, that is to confirm or refute new findings, theories or hypotheses, of which the authorities involved in criminal proceedings have been informed and which could lead to a more detailed determination and understanding of the factual state of affairs."
The exhumation of the remains is to be one of these steps — an opportunity for experts to examine the physical evidence directly and compare it with archive findings.
Case reopened after nearly eight decades
Investigators wish to confront the results of the new examinations with what has been established in the case thus far. Foreign archive materials may play a key role in assessing whether Masaryk's death was caused by something other than what the official communist version claimed.
Three explanations remain under consideration: suicide, murder or accident. Whether the planned exhumation and new documents will confirm one of these versions, or conversely will raise further questions, will be shown by the continuation of the investigation.
Source: Nový Čas