Prague court sends Columbian man to prison for eight years for arson attack

The Prague Municipal Court on Monday sent a man who committed an arson attack on a Prague transport company last June to prison for eight years. It also expelled Colombian Andres Alfonso de la Hoz de la Cruz from Czechia and ordered him to pay damages of approximately 115,000 crowns. Mr. de la Hoz de la Cruz pleaded guilty, and the court found him guilty of a terrorist attack and of preparing another one.

According to the chairwoman of the court, Daniella Sarah Sotolářová, the 26-year-old man wanted to set fire to as many buses in the Klíčov garages as possible. He set the buses on fire, recorded his actions on his phone, and left. Thanks to the timely intervention of the transport company employees who extinguished the fire, the fire did not spread further.

According to the judge, Mr. de la Hoz de la Cruz acted on the instructions of a person who appeared on the Internet under the nickname Adrian, with whom he communicated via the social network Telegram. He had been promised a reward of 3,000 dollars (approximately 65,000 crowns) for the fire.