Convicted Mostecká uhelná managers may avoid jail

Two of the five Czechs who were sentenced on Thursday in a Swiss court were released from custody after being held for a number of hours. All five are former managers of the Mostecká Uhelna coal mining company and received substantial prison sentences for asset stripping, fraud, money-laundering and breach of trust during the privatization of the company in the 1990s. Of the defendants, only Petr Kraus and Antonín Koláček were present at the sentencing and the two were temporarily detained. The Czech authorities have said that they have no plans to extradite the remaining three defendants based on international agreements.