Ivana is a midwife, one of a few in the whole country who attended homebirths in 2000s. Before she started assisting women at homebirth she had had a 20 year long career in Apolinar – a maternity hospital in Prague. In 1998 she was one of the founding midwives of the Active Birth Centre in another maternity hospital in Prague – Bulovka. The birth centre’s existence was undermined by the system and it closed in 2000.
Ivana attended hundreds of homebirths and has been an advocate for maternal choice of birthplace. In 2009, she assisted a homebirth at which the baby was born in poor condition and needed resuscitation. Sadlly, the baby later died. In 2011 she was charged with negligent manslaughter and for the following 15 years has been in and out of courtrooms, fighting for justice.
In 2011 she was found guilty by district court in Prague 3 and received a 2 year suspended prison sentence and a 5 year midwifery practice ban. She was also ordered to pay for the cost of hospital care of the baby to the insurance company. The judgement meant a professional and financial destruction. She appealed the decision in the city court of Prague, but the judgement was confirmed. She appealed again, and the Supreme Court confirmed the sentence.
In 2013 the Constitutional Court cancelled the previous judgements. It found that the presumption of innocence was not honoured and the court proceeding was unjust. It also questioned the causal link between Ivana’s actions and death of the baby. The Constitutional Court returned the case to the local court in Prague 3 for a new process.
In 2014 Ivana was acquitted. The public prosecutor appealed to the Supreme Court, but the appeal was not allowed.
After the acquittal, Ivana sued the state for damages – loss of income and non-material damage caused by the unfair trial.
In 2017 she won compensation for the loss of income. But she was denied compensation for non-material damage as it was allegedly past the statute of limitation.
In 2025 Constitutional court confirmed that she had the right to sue for further damages as the limitation period has not yet lapsed.
And finally in 2026 she won compensation and an official apology from the Ministry of Justice.
“Apology to Mrs. Königsmarkova: The Ministry of Justice would like to apologise to Mrs Ivana Königsmarkova for all the damage caused by the unlawful criminal proceedings and unlawful sentencing and for the hard-to-mitigate consequences she suffered in her personal, professional and social life in the aftermath of the unlawful proceedings and sentencing.”
https://english.radio.cz/midwifes-appeal-rejected-supreme-court-8337852
https://exhibits.lafayette.edu/s/jannatest/item/25829
https://www.pribehyproivanu.eu/author/pribehyproivanu/
https://plus.rozhlas.cz/apolena-rychlikova-pozde-ale-prece-boj-o-ceske-porodnictvi-nekonci-9597663
https://www.memoryofnations.eu/en/konigsmarkova-ivana-1953
https://www.memoryofnations.eu/cs/konigsmarkova-ivana-20141023-0
Midwifery by Lenka 