Marie Benešová
Czech politician and lawyer (1948–2024)
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Marie Benešová (17 April 1948 – 11 November 2024) was a Czech politician and lawyer who served as Minister of Justice under Prime Minister Andrej Babiš from 2019 to 2021, having previously held the position between 2013 and 2014, as a part of Jiří Rusnok's Cabinet.[1]
Marie Benešová | |
|---|---|
| Minister of Justice | |
| In office 30 April 2019 – 17 December 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Andrej Babiš |
| Preceded by | Jan Kněžínek |
| Succeeded by | Pavel Blažek |
| In office 10 July 2013 – 29 January 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Jiří Rusnok |
| Preceded by | Pavel Blažek |
| Succeeded by | Helena Válková |
| Chairman of the Government Legislative Council | |
| In office 6 May 2019 – 17 December 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Andrej Babiš |
| Preceded by | Jan Kněžínek |
| Succeeded by | Michal Šalomoun |
| In office 10 July 2013 – 29 January 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Jiří Rusnok |
| Preceded by | Petr Mlsna |
| Succeeded by | Jiří Dienstbier Jr. |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 26 October 2013 – 26 October 2017 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 17 April 1948 |
| Died | 11 November 2024 (aged 76) |
| Party | Social Democratic Party |
| Education | Charles University |
| Occupation | Politician, lawyer |
Early life
Benešová was born on 17 April 1948.[2] Both her parents worked in construction.[3] In June 1966, she graduated from a secondary general education school, and afterwards, she attended the Faculty of Law, Charles University, where she graduated in 1971.[3] After graduating, she worked at the district prosecutor's office in Kladno as a legal trainee before passing her judicial exams two years later and becoming a prosecutor for the same office.[3] She worked there until 1991, working on general crime and later as a specialist in traffic crime.[3] She then worked as a lawyer for the Supreme State Prosecutor.[4]
Career
From 1999 to 2005, Benešová was the Supreme State Prosecutor.[5] Her dismissal as prosecutor is generally attributed to a quarrel between her and then Minister of Justice Pavel Němec.[6] This occurred because Hamid Bin Abdul Sani al-Thani, a member of the House of Thani, was arrested for child sexual abuse in the Czech Republic but Němec interfered so that al-Thani was sent to Qatar instead for a trial.[7] Benešová argued that this threatened the independence of the Czech judicial system and that he should've been tried in the Czech Republic.[7]
In 2006, she ran for a seat in the Senate of the Czech Republic for Chomutov representing the Czech Social Democratic Party, which she lost.[6] However, she was then part of the shadow cabinet as the Minister of Justice.[8]