Brussels, April 5 (CTK) – The Czech Republic has sent a diplomatic note to Britain over a verdict acquitting a Briton who violently beat to death a Czech man in London last autumn, Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek (Social Democrats, CSSD) told journalists on Wednesday.
Zaoralek had a bilateral meeting over the case with his British counterpart Boris Johnson.
Prague wants Britain to let it know how the case could be revised, Zaoralek said, adding that the Czech Republic also wants to be assured that the victim’s country of origin did not play any role in the decision of the court.
Johnson made it clear he understood the embittered Czech reaction to the verdict, Zaoralek said.
However, Johnson also stressed that for the British government and foreign office it was difficult to influence the course of the judiciary and it was not easy to find a way with which to enter the case.
A London court issued the verdict on Monday.
The perpetrator claimed that he acted in self-defence. The court found him guilty of neither murder nor deliberate killing.
According to the British investigators, the 31-year-old Czech man, Zdenek M., had a dispute with a group of youths who rode bicycles near his home in London in September 2016. Eye witnesses said he made fun of them, calling them a bicycle gang, which made the group angry.
Zdenek wanted to placate the group, but 29-year-old Raymond Sculley attacked him with the chain of his bike lock and hit him in the head several times. The attack was recorded by security cameras. According to a post-mortem, Zdenek bled to death.
Zdenek lived in London for more than ten years, his sister said previously.
In its diplomatic note, Prague demands that all data relating to the case be provided to it.
It also wants to be given information on what ways can be used by the Czech and British authorities to revise the trial.
“The basic appeal as one might judge from the Czech legal order, is impossible here,” Zaoralek said.
Some 4,500 people have signed an online petition demanding justice in this case.
