Prague, March 30 (CTK) – A court started dealing with a complaint lodged by Qatari Prince Hamid bin Abdal Thani, who was convicted of sexual abuse of underage girls in the Czech Republic and who demands a compensation of 225,000 crowns for the time he spent in the custody, yesterday.
The Justice Ministry disagrees with the claim, arguing that Thani was convicted of sexual intercourse with school girls.
Thani’s lawyer plays down the criminal activity, saying that the media has painted an exaggerated picture of Thani as a pervert.
In October 2015, a Prague district court sentenced Thani in absentia to 11 months and eight days in prison for sexual abuse, procuring, threatening the moral education of youth and seduction. The sentence exactly covers the time Thani spent in Czech custody before being extradited to Qatar.
Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family, was also expelled from the Czech Republic indefinitely.
Thani demands the compensation for the stay in the prison in 2005.
Thani was accused of repeated sexual contacts with school girls between 2000 and his detention in a Prague flat in 2004. Most of the girls came from broken families and their education was largely neglected. They said in court that
Thani had paid them 2000 crowns for intercourse.
No valid verdict was issued in the case of Thani then because he was released to Qatar in August 2006 based on a ruling by former justice minister Pavel Nemec.
On his arrival back home, Thani was arrested, but he was released on bail after two days.
In 2007, a Qatar prosecutor stopped the prosecution and no charges were brought against Thani in his homeland. Qatar said Thani had already been sufficiently punished with the 340-day custody in the Czech Republic and refused to deal with the case again.
Thani did not come to the court yesterday. His lawyer Miroslav Spadrna said his client was an unhappy man who considered the Czech Republic his second home, but who was scandalised by reporters who called him a pervert.
“The media depicted him as a demon, while his only sin was having liked young girls who were certainly no virgins,” Spadrna said.
($1=25.140 crowns)
pv/dr/rtj
