MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd June, 2023) The Czech police have discovered a connection to Russia while investigating the spreading of false news about the death of then-presidential candidate and current president Petr Pavel during the election campaign in January, Prague Police spokesman Jan Danek said on Friday.
"The Prague Police criminologists from the Counter Terrorism and Extremism Department investigated the case and discovered that the traces (of the false information) ... lead to Russia," Danek was quoted as saying by news portal Seznam Zpravy.
However, the police could not identify the person responsible for spreading the misinformation, so the case has been postponed, Danek said.
An email containing the false information was sent via Russian service Yandex. The message had a fake quote by Pavel's spokesperson saying that the presidential hopeful had died on the night of January 26 of a heart attack, the portal said.
The false messages about Pavel's death began to spread on social media in late January, ahead of the second round of the presidential election in the Czech Republic. At the time, Pavel and his rival, former Prime Minister Andrej Babis, condemned spreading false news.
