European Court of Human Rights rules against Czech Republic

The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday ordered the Czech state to pay British man Ronald Crabtree 2,000 euros in compensation for detaining him illegally. Mr. Crabtree had demanded damages of 2.0 million euros. He was detained and imprisoned on suspicion of corruption in February 2003. But instead of being ordered to be detained for the three months maximum until May, a court ruled he should be remanded in prison until December. He was eventually sentenced to three-and-a-half years. The court in Strasbourg recognised his complaint that his initial detention had been illegal. The Ministry of Justice said it was considering an appeal.