Czech court rules in favour of extraditing suspected IRA terrorist

A Czech municipal court ruled on Thursday that suspected IRA member Michael Dickson should be extradited to Germany to face charges linked to a 1996 grenade attack on a British army barracks in the German town of Osnabrueck. Dickson, who denies any ties to the IRA and says he was in the Czech Republic as a tourist, has appealed to the country's High Court.

Michael Dickson, who has been held in custody in Prague since December on an international arrest warrant, has been on Interpol's wanted list for several years.

Michael Dickson, photo: CTK

He is suspected of direct involvement in the 1996 grenade attack in Oesnabruck, as well as a bombing of barracks in Lisburn, northern Ireland, in which one soldier was killed. He has also been linked with the 1999 shooting of former IRA member Martin McGartland. Having successfully avoided detection for years, Dickson made the fatal mistake of trying to smuggle cigarettes across the Czech border in December of 2002.

Michael Dickson's appeal to the High Court, leaves the final ruling on his extradition with Justice Minister Pavel Rychetsky and may delay the process by about two months but observers do not believe that Dickson stands any chance of avoiding justice. "The High Court has no reason to question the municipal court's decision - this is a straightforward case," state attorney Dagmar Machova told journalists after the verdict. Only two things could have prevented or complicated Dickson's extradition to a third country - if he had been a Czech national or if the crime he was suspected of committing were not a criminal offense under Czech law. Neither of these apply.

There is no deadline by which the Czech High Court should rule on the case but given its gravity and its international implications, this is one case in which the Czech justice system should produce a swift verdict.