Czechs detained in Lebanon to sue state after compensation plea rejected

Four of five Czechs who were kidnapped in Lebanon in 2015 are planning to take legal action after the state refused their request for financial compensation. Czech Radio reported on the plan on Tuesday, quoting one of the four, lawyer Jan Švarc. Mr. Švarc and the others argue that the Czech secret services could have prevented their kidnapping if they had been better coordinated. However, the Ministry of the Interior says the organisers of their trip are to blame. The day after the abductees’ release in 2016 the Czech authorities freed Ali Fayad, a Lebanese man wanted in the US on terrorism charges. The Czech minister of defence, Martin Stropnický, later said an exchange had taken place.