Fugitive businessman gets seven year jail term

Fugitive Czech businessman Radovan Krejčíř has been handed a seven year jail term for the abduction of fellow businessman Jakub Konečný in 2002. He is alleged to have hired a Kosovar Albanian to abduct the businessman during a financial dispute. The prison term was handed out by a Prague court, with Mr Krejčíř in absentia. The businessman is currently in South Africa, having succeeded in thwarting Czech attempts to have him extradited back to the Czech Republic to face numerous charges of property fraud and several other alleged crimes. Mr Krejčíř escaped from police custody in the Czech Republic in 2005 in shady circumstances during a police search of his home. The current verdict can be appealed if Mr Krejčíř chooses to do so.