NGO calls on Zeman to cancel Karimov invitation

People in Need have called on President Milos Zeman to cancel an invitation to the president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, to visit Prague. In a statement, the NGO said Mr. Karimov represented a repressive regime that did not hesitate to use its own citizens as slave labour. Mr. Zeman responded by saying the invitation had been extended by his predecessor and that he wished People in Need “more information and less hypocrisy”.The president has also come in for criticism recently over a visit by the president of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, and an invitation to Ukraine’s head of state, Viktor Yanukovych.