Turkish driver jailed in Prague 30 years after brawl

By Atilla Altuntas

STOCKHOLM

A Turkish truck driver, said to be involved in a brawl in Czech Republic 30 years ago, was convicted and jailed after his arrest in Stockholm.

Ahmet Unsal, 66, had been accused of being involved in a fight with some other truck drivers in 1988, which resulted in the injury of a driver.

“Nobody died during the fight,” Tuna Unsal, son of the convicted Turkish truck driver, told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday. He said his father had taken care of the injured truck driver after the fighting among the drivers.

He complained that while the former co-leader of PYD/PKK Salih Muslum was allowed to walk free by the Czech Republic despite serious terror-related charges against him, his father was sent to prison even without being taken to a court.

“[This is] because there is a strong lobby behind him [Muslum]. [But] my father has to stay in prison for 8.5 years although he had already spent 20 months in prison and he is innocent,” Unsal said as he urged Turkish officials to help him out.

“According to the then Czech law, my father was given 20 months in prison on the charge of attempted murder. He was released in July 1990 in line with a new law,” he said.

In 2014, a Czech court issued another arrest warrant for Unsal and asked the Interpol to issue a red notice against him.

“The reason for the decision was that Turkish courts had not taken any legal action against my father when he was released in 1990,” he said.

The Turkish truck driver was extradited last month to Czech Republic by Sweden after he was arrested in Arlanda Airport in Stockholm where he came to visit his son.

“My father was then sent to prison even without being taken to a court to complete the remaining eight-and-a-half years [of his sentence]. My father is suffering due to misunderstanding in legal correspondence between Czech Republic and Turkey,” he said.