Czech man released from Sudan prison during minister’s trip

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – The Czech Republic’s Foreign Ministry says a Czech national who was sentenced to a stiff prison term in Sudan last month has been released and is on the way home with the minister.

The ministry said in January that Petr Jasek received a 20-year prison term for charges that included espionage.

Czech officials had rejected the sentence as groundless.

The ministry said in a statement on Sunday that Jasek was released from a Sudanese prison during Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek’s visit to Sudan and was heading back on a plane with the minister.

Zaoralek had said he was going to Sudan to help secure Jasek’s release.

Czech officials previously said Jasek was in Sudan to help local Christians and was arrested in December 2015.

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