Two Czechs jailed for terrorism in Turkey have been released

Two Czechs who were jailed for terrorism in Turkey have been released. The news was confirmed by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš who said the two were on a Czech military plane to Prague and would arrive on Friday evening. He thanked the Czech intelligence services for their role in assisting the release.

According to Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček the release of the two Czechs was unconditional. He said they would be treated by doctors upon arrival and go into a two week quarantine.

The Czech couple, Marketa Všelichová and Miroslav Farkas, both humanitarian workers, were  arrested in November 2016 trying to cross the Turkish-Iraqi border. They were sentenced to six years in jail for having assisted the Kurdish militia YPG, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization.

The couple denied the charges, insisting they were on a humanitarian aid mission aimed to create a field hospital near the Turkish-Iraqi border.

Previous efforts to secure their release proved fruitless.