WARSAW, March 5 - RAPSI, Leonid Sviridov. The upper house of the Czech parliament has voted for submitting a treason complaint against the outgoing president, Vaclav Klaus, to the country's Constitutional Court, Czech news agency CTK has announced.

The decision was supported by 38 senators, while 30 voted against. The complaint will be forwarded to the Constitutional Court on Tuesday; the court is expected to announce its ruling in late March.

The Senate's actions were prompted by an amnesty granted by President Klaus on January 1, which will free over 6,000 prison inmates and halt the prosecution of prominent business executives and officials charged with asset stripping, bribes and fraud.

The Senate, which is dominated by the president's left-wing political opponents, also claims that Mr. Klaus deferred the signing of laws and the appointment of judges to the Constitutional Court, reports CTK.

The Czech legislation defines high treason as "the president's actions that undermine the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the democratic system as a whole."

If the court finds Mr. Klaus guilty, he will be stripped of his office and will also lose his presidential pension and the right to run for president again.

However, Czech analysts note that the Senate's decision is purely political in nature, since the president's second term ends on March 7 and Czech legislation prohibits a president from holding office for more than two consecutive terms.

The country's next president, Milos Zeman, former Prime Minister and head of the Citizen's Rights Party, will be inaugurated in Prague Castle on March 8.