Skip to content or view screen version

Prague Legal Support Update #2, 5/10/00

Prague Legal | 10.10.2000 22:21

An update on the situation from the legal team in Prague

People confirmed as detained in prison facing charges: 2 from Spain, 2 from Denmark, 1 from Germany, 1 from Poland, 1 from Czech Republic, 1 from UK. People missing but feared in jail: 1 from USA, 5 from Rumania, 2 from Germany, 6 from Hungary. There is also 1 austrian in jail and charged. There is also 1 ukranian woman and 2 kurdish persons whom we have no confirmation are being charged but we have reasons to fear they are still in jail.

There are many more people listed as missing according to our database, but this list is compiled from information we have from people released and from inquiries we have had about them

We thought it would be useful to outline the legal process for those of you in other countries who don't know. There is a distinction between people facing charges and those awaiting deportation. Most people who were going to be deported have been.
Those foreigners facing charges will now be in prison (in almost all cases in Pankrac, Taborska 988 Praha 4 CZ Rep) They will almost certainly have to stay in prison until their trials, which could be something like three months. Bail is rarely given and always has a minimum level of 10,000Kc. Bail is applied for in writing to the judge who made the custody decision. The people who can apply most pressure on whether or not bail is granted are in practice, in this situation, the embassies, who, due to the economic and diplomatic considerations of the czech republic, have to be respected .
The embassies obviously have to have motivation beyond their duty to move at all. And this literally seems to come down to who people know.

What you can do:
- pressurise your local Czech embassy: a variety of actions / visitations / occupations have happened and are being planned in Amsterdam, Berne, Berlin, Barcelona, Copenhagen, London, Madrid, Paris, Rome, and more are planned in these cities and others
- make sure your embassy in Prague is doing its job properly…
- fundraise and send us money to get these people out / pay for good legal representation… .
- if you know someone who was released, make sure they have good support and that they let us know they are out so that we stop worrying about and looking for them. We would also find it very helpful if they would write a report of what happened to them and what they saw.

Thank you for your solidarity and support,
Love, the tired legal team

Prague Legal