Prague, Oct 8 (CTK) – A Prague court sentenced Thursday Qatari Prince Thani to 11 months and 8 days in prison for sexual abuse of Czech underage girls, but the verdict is not yet valid.
The judge said the punishment is sufficient in view of the time Thani spent in Czech custody.
Thani stays in Qatar where the Czech Republic extradited him in 2005. He could be arrested if he left his homeland because an international warrant for his arrest was issued.
The state attorney wanted Thani to be given a three-yar prison sentence, but both he and the defence assessed the eventual punishment as reasonable.
Thani was accused of repeated sexual contacts with school girls from 2000 until his detention in a Prague flat in 2004. Most of the girls came from broken families. Their education was largely neglected. They said at court in the past Thani paid them 2000 crowns for intercourse and they spent most of the money on clothing.
A district court senntenced Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family, to 2.5 years in 2005, but the Municipal Prague Court abolished the verdict.
In the meantime, the Czech Republic extradited Thani to Qatar based on former justice minister Pavel Nemec’s decision. In Qatar, Thani was released two days later and the proceedings against him were stopped in Qatar that said Thani was sufficiently punished by custody in the Czech Republic.
Thani was originally charged with paid sex with 15 girls, four of whom were underage and another eight were less than 18 years.
However, after former president Vaclav Klaus issued an amnesty in 2013, courts had to stop the criminal proceedings for six out of the total of 15 deeds because they started more than eight years ago.
