Prague, Feb 27 (CTK) – Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) called yesterday the release of Czech citizen Petr Jasek from a Sudanese prison a great success of Czech diplomacy.
Citizens must be sure that the state will stand up for them, Sobotka told reporters.
Jasek, who was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for espionage and subversion in Sudan in January, returned to Prague on Sunday night along with Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek (CSSD) who was negotiating about his release in Khartoum.
Sudanese President Omar Bashir granted pardon to Jasek and ordered his immediate release.
Both Sobotka and Zaoralek said it was a great diplomatic success.
Sobotka thanked Zaoralek, Czech Ambassador to Egypt Veronika Smigolova and all other people who had contributed to Jasek’s release.
Zaoralek said he had been convinced since the beginning that Jasek had done nothing wrong. He appreciated that the solution in the form of the president’s pardon had been agreed on.
The conditions in Sudanese prisons were hard for Jasek, Zaoralek said. “However, he is an extremely courageous man. Not everyone would have stood this,” he added.
Sobotka said he believed that Jasek, a long-term worker of the Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) organisation, would soon return to his life in the Czech Republic in full strength.
The Czech government will always help citizens in need, Sobotka pointed out.
“Citizens must be cautious during their trips (abroad), but if they end up in troubles, they must be sure that the Czech state will stand by them,” he said.
Zaoralek has no new information about the two young Czechs, a man and a woman, who were detained in Turkey last year on suspicion of terrorism and face up to 15 years in prison, and a Czech man kidnapped in Libya in 2015.
Jasek, together with three Africans, was accused of seven crimes in Sudan.
The Release International organisation previously said the four were prosecuted for financing anti-government movements in Darfur and South Kordofan, but in fact they wanted to help a Darfur student who suffered burns in a demonstration.
Human rights defenders say Jasek handed over 5,000 dollars in Sudan as a contribution to the student’s treatment.
hol/dr/ms
