CzechTek organiser off the hook

Wow, I hope Trudy Childs and the guys from UpRock get as lucky. Although these are surely different circumstances, not to mention a whole different country.

State attorney cancels accusation of CzechTek organiser

PLZEN/TACHOV, West Bohemia (PDM staff with CTK) 24 August - The Tachov State Attorney's Office has cancelled its prosecution of Vaclav Sroub, organiser of the recent CzechTek rave near Tachov, as it did not find Sroub's activities unlawful, Sroub's defence lawyer told the Czech News Agency yesterday. The state attorney has returned the case to the police for further investigation, Sroub's lawyer Klara Slamova said. Milan Pozl, the state attorney in charge of the case, decided that the accusation had fundamental shortcomings.

"The state attorney's office decided that the accusation neither describes Sroub's action sufficiently nor does it prove his intention, and [the office also] said that he cannot be responsible for the damages caused by other people," Slamova said. In his verdict Pozel wrote that Sroub's action, as described [in the police accusation] can be qualified only as an offence of negligence.

Sroub was accused because of the material damage which CzechTek caused land in Mlynec and which the police estimated at 200,000-300,000 crowns. Sroub leased a plot in Mlynec in late July to organise CzechTek. The police, however, forcibly terminated the rave on July 30. They dispersed the techno fans with the aid of tear gas and water cannons. Dozens of people were injured on both sides. To explain the crackdown, they said that CzechTek participants had damaged the adjacent land.

Sroub was accused over the damage but Slamova lodged a complaint against the accusation, pointing to essential mistakes in it. The Tachov State Attorney's Office launched prosecution in eight cases involving CzechTek participants, and another eight cases are still being investigated. The State Attorney's Office in Plzen is investigating the police action.
(USD1=24.078 crowns)

CTK news edited by the staff of the Prague Daily Monitor, a Monitor CE service.