PRAGUE -- A scandal at pubcaster Czech TV may cost station topper Jiri Janacek his career if unions get their way.
Janacek, who has recently admitted his past as a Communist Party member in the days before 1989's Velvet Revolution, has been facing heat for hiring a former member of the Communist-affiliated People's Militia, Frantisek Lambert, as financial and programming director.
Lambert revealed earlier this year that he served in the militia, a security body that protected the Communist Party.
The station's governing board opted Feb. 21 to strip Lambert of his financial duties, but took no other action.
Station staffers, however, are now accusing the board of having too many former Communists and are demanding Janacek's ouster. Many believe both men should have reported their past under the Czech disclosure law known as Lustration, but the governing board has ruled the law does not apply in this case.
The revelations are the latest in a wave of outings that have swept the Czech Republic after thousands of secret police records finally became accessible to the public. The Czech TV admissions, however, were made voluntarily.
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