Czech hacker gets suspended sentence for blackmailing PM

A 20-year-old hacker from Ostrava was convicted of blackmailing Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and received a suspended sentence last week, court spokesman Lukas Delong said on Thursday.

Two years ago, the man repeatedly sent threats to then-finance minister Babis through social networks. Delong said the Ostrava district court verdict had issued a 12-month sentence suspended for 24 months to the man. The state will also forfeit his computer.

The young man said he was part of the hacker group Anonymous. He demanded that Babis cancel a part of the new lottery law. He presented photos of Babis's wife and his children.

"If the EET (electronic sales registration) made it through, we will be tougher, quite brutally... this is the last warning," the youth wrote in one of his threats.

Later, the man said he would publish data on Babis's daughter on an erotic dating site, which Babis indicated was a serious harm to him.

The prosecutor also accused the man of having software for cyber attacks installed on his computer. In addition to Babis, the attacks were also aimed at the Czech government office and the finance ministry.