Pachová stopa

Zuzana Piussi's films have previously shown up close the incredible failures of justice in Slovakia - this film delves into the system and specific cases in the Czech Republic. The idea that there is an impartial method that generates “truth” at the level of facts and evidence can be a relief and has accompanied the dialogue between science and philosophy for at least the last few centuries. Working with a scent trail – an invisible set of traces of a person’s presence in a given place, which can only be read by an “impartial” dog – at first glance gives this hope. The method itself was invented by the Soviets and developed by the East German secret police and widely used against dissidents and as part of psychological pressure to confess, for example, to putting up prohibited posters or participating in unauthorized demonstrations. During the 1980s, it became part of police practice. The method uses the indisputable sensitivity and discrimination abilities of dogs to identify certain substances in trace amounts and in many cases has its relevance. The problem arises when the Czech judiciary and police apparatus uncritically adopted it into the practice of post-November administration of justice and was established at the level of key evidence. In other words, if a suspect's scent trail is marked positive, it is enough to convict without or despite other evidence. The film follows stories of miscarriages of justice or people who are in prison with long sentences and are seeking a retrial. Why are the Czech Republic and Russia countries where a dog can send you to prison? Why are there no cases of reopening dubious convictions, even though scientific capacities have reason to doubt the scent trail method? How is it possible that the Czech Republic is the global champion in the number of solved murders and far surpasses even developed Western countries?