Prague  - Czech President Vaclav Klaus Friday signed into law a bill that bans the media from publishing information from leaked police wiretaps, his office said.

The legislation was seen as a breach of media freedom.

The disputed penal code amendment, passed at a time when the Czech Republic chairs the European Union, allows courts to punish publication of information from leaked wiretaps by up to five years in prison.

Wiretap technology allows police to listen in on electronic communications in suspected criminal cases.

On Thursday, Klaus said in a letter to the Syndicate of Czech Journalists that "illegal publishing of police and other wiretaps prior to court proceedings significantly limits and threatens rights of innocent citizens."

The group plans to appeal to lawmakers to challenge the bill in the Constitutional Court.

The controversial law was pushed through by the Czech parliament's lower house despite objections from the upper house, publishers and journalism groups, such as Reporters Without Borders.

The Czech Republic has joined neighbouring Slovakia in introducing controversial media legislation.

Slovakia's 2008 media law obliges newsrooms to run corrections and replies to articles in their full on "equivalent" space, which critics see as an infringement on editorial independence. (dpa)