High court confirms Šrubař will not benefit from amnesty

Prague’s High Court has confirmed an earlier decision by the regional court in Plzeň to reject the release of prisoner Jaroslav Šrubař under the New Year’s amnesty. In 2006, Mr Šrubař, then a fugitive, was sentenced to nine years in prison for tax evasion in the hundreds of millions of crowns as well as for kidnapping and blackmail. The case has lasted more than eight years, according to the Czech news agency. In 2011 Šrubař gave himself up, asking for a new trial. In January of this year, when former president Václav Klaus declared the amnesty (affecting minor crimes and cases lasting eight years or more) Šrubař’s case remained unresolved. Tuesday’s ruling confirms in practice that cases lasting eight years or more due to a suspect avoiding justice will not be covered by the amnesty.