Prague, June 29 (CTK) – Dong Jiangqing, the Chinese man who stole a Tibetan flag in a street during the Chinese president’s visit to Prague in March, has to pay a fine of 15,000 crowns to the Czech state, otherwise he would spend two months in jail, a Prague court decided on Wednesday.
The verdict has not taken effect, as both Dong, 41, and the state attorney said they will consider whether to appeal it.
On March 28, Dong tore a Tibetan flag out of the hands of a pro-Tibetan demonstrator who was waiting in a street for the motorcade with President Xi Jinping to pass by. Dong kept the flag and hid it.
The court originally sentenced Dong to expulsion from the Czech Republic for five years, but Dong challenged the verdict and new proceedings were launched.
Dong, a cook by profession, does not speak Czech, which is why his testimony was translated by an interpreter in the courtroom on Wednesday.
He said he did not want to commit a theft, but wanted to express his support for the official visit.
“The [Tibetan] flag…symbolises the division of China. Its use is banned in our country, the People’s Republic of China. I considered its presence in that place inappropriate. I believed that in the time that is so wonderful and favourable, when the Czech and Chinese peoples are coming close to each other, there should not be a flag that symbolises a split,” Dong said.
The Czech demonstrator involved, Jakub Seda, 29, said he unfolded the Tibetan flag in expectation of Xi’s motorcade, after which a group of people, who were probably Chinese, surrounded him, whistled in his ears with small vuvuzelas and tried to cover him with a large Chinese flag to prevent him from being seen.
Seda said he tried to leave the place but the group pursued him. As the arrival of the motorcade came nearer they grew more and more fanatic. They evidently felt that they would fail if their president spotted any anti-Chinese protests.
Their harassment culminated with one of the Chinese taking the Tibetan flag away from Seda.
