Czech couple released from Turkish prison

A Czech couple who had been in prison in Turkey since the end of 2016 for alleged membership of the YPG has been released. They were brought home on Friday on a special flight.

Two young Czech nationals who were imprisoned in Turkey for alleged membership of the People's Defense Units (Yekîneyên Parastina Gel, YPG) have been released. A special plane of the Czech army flew them home on Friday, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš told the ČTK press agency. The plane landed at the airport in Prague in the early evening.

Markéta Všelichová and Miroslav Farkas had been arrested in November 2016 in the Kurdish province of Şırnak at the border crossing between Iraq and Turkey and were jailed shortly afterwards. Initially they were accused of supporting the YPG, at the trial in August 2017 a court in Şırnak sentenced them to six years and three months imprisonment for "membership in a terrorist organisation". Both denied the accusations against them and stated that they had wanted to set up an infirmary in the war zone. The public prosecutor's office demanded up to 15 years imprisonment for the two.

The imprisonment of Všelichová and Farkas met with clear criticism in Prague at the time. "The verdict is a bitter disappointment for me," said Lubomír Zaorálek, then Foreign Minister and now Minister of Culture, and declared his intention to work for a fair trial at the next instance. Finally, last year, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš negotiated with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about the release of the Czech nationals.