Posted by & filed under Newspapers, Videos.

On the Czech television primetime news, the case of Martin Pezlar and Ivan Buchta was covered.  we have translated the video.

Transcript:

Greek justice rejected appeal of couple of Czechs accused of alleged espionnage for their release from Greek detention.
Their lawyer is preparing another appeal.
Another Czech accused from espionnage in African Togo also hasn’t returned home yet.

Parents of Ivan and Martin
are hoping their sons would return home for 2 months.
Last call from Greece has shaken their hopes, however.
Ivan called home on Wed and told his mother
they’d need to get saved.
Both Czechs got response to their appeal
defending from being accused of espionnage.
The reply of Greek authorities was one they didn’t want to get. Rejected.
In that very moment, he told me : Mom, today I feel really physically bad. I and Ivan, we are both really down!
Till today, they both actually tried to calm families down.
We are trying to alive here with dignity…
Both fathers are again on their way to meet sons to give them some support.
They will also take practical things with them, such as warm clothes.
In the cell they are detained here is a window without a glass so there is a permanent wind from sea all the night.
Martin and Ivan were not separated so far and that is, according to Jiri Cetl detained last year in Zambia in identical situation, critical for psyche.
Most important is to bear, to keep kind of sense of belonging together.

Posted by & filed under Newspapers, Videos.

The Czech television ceskatelevize.cz published a video in which the parents of Ivan Buchta and Martin Pezlar make a statement about the situation.  We have translated this video and published it on youtube.

Be sure to turn on English subtitles.

 

Statement of mother of Ivan buchta :

A holder of a Czech passport is under the protection of the Czech Republic.
Everybody concerned is requested to provide the holder of the passport
with the necessary help and protection according to the international law.
What I just read is a quote from the passport we all have at home.
For 68 days Greece has been holding two innocent and unjustly charged Czech citizens.
Our sons: Martin and Ivan
For 68 days we have been waking up and falling asleep worried about our children
who are being jailed on a Greek island distant 1600 kilometers.
It has also been 68 days for which we have believed
that the ministry of foreign affairs has been doing everything to get Martin and Ivan home.
We have been assured that minister Schwarzenberg has spoken about our sons with his Greek counterpart,
that the embassy in Greece is doing everything it can
and that we have to be strong.
Perhaps we were too optimistic.
We supported each other and trusted the ministry of foreign affairs.
A single telephone call has shattered our hope and trust.
It was the telephone call where our sons told us
that their appeal against the decision to prosecute was refused,
as well as the request to be released on bail.
At that moment everything that has been holding us mentally above the water has fallen apart.
Now we are crushed and full of desperation
that nobody has been able to help our children…our boys
for nearly 70 days from this absurd and unfair situation.
We cannot understand how in a civilized world can somebody frame our boys,
who went to Greece on vacation with a travel agency,
of espionage and get away with it.
How is it possible that a member of the European Union
can imprison citizens of a different country without basic and irrefutable evidence.
Why in other cases special emissaries are dispatched to negotiate
but in our case no such thing is done.
The last telephone call from our boys has drastically changed the situation.
In the previous calls we have assured them that everything is being done to save them
and they assured us that they’re holding it together as well as they can.
Today we unfortunately know that what was being done wasn’t enough
and that it hasn’t forced the Greek authorities to rethink the absurd charges,
instead they maintain on pressing the charges.
One more thing has also changed.
Our boys.
They…
They no longer tell us that it’s alright, that they are holding it together.
After this judicial decision we have heard from Martin and Ivan something
that no parent wants to hear.
During the phone call they basically told us one thing:
“Mom, dad, please save us.”
I’d like to read…
…the statement of Dr. Dagmar Raupachová, our attorney-at-law.
The goal of my actions is to get both men back to the Czech Republic.
The first step was the meeting with the Czech minister of foreign affairs Karel Schwarzenberg,
among other things because the ministry could obtain further important information via our embassy in Greece
According to my information the embassy spoke with the Greek ministry of justice,
I consider that a correct move, unfortunately it hasn’t lead to our goal yet.
That is why I then contacted president Václav Klaus,
the highest authority.
f the state’s interest of protecting its citizens is real,
as it it publicly presented,
then I am of the opinion that the government should have stepped in.
The thing of importance is that reliable flow of information can be established
and that a coordinated approach using international treaties is set.
I will now contact prime minister Petr Nečas in this regard.
Dr. Dagmar Raupachová.

Official statement (Czech)

behindbars

Posted by & filed under Newspapers.

On the Czech news-site Rozhlaz.cz an article was posted regarding the situation of Ivan Buchta and Martin Pezlar.
Although we yet have to get confirmation from their lawyer but it seems the the appeal is rejected.

Here is the translation of the article..

The two Czechs who have been arrested by Greek police in September will be tried for espionage. Greek court has declined their appeal. Parents of both men are asking the Czech government for help freeing them.

 

Ivan Buchta and Martin Pezlar got a decision from the Greek court.

It says that their appeal against the charges of espionage has been declined, as well as their request to be released on bail. Both men will therefore be tried in Greece for espionage.

 

Their parents have today released a statement which says that they have been crushed and are full of desperation because nobody has been able to help their sons - who have been jailed for almost 70 days - escape from the absurd and unfair situation. They say they don’t understand how this can happen in a civilized world and hope that somebody will lend them a hand.

 

“Our boys no longer tell us on the phone that it’s alright, that they’re handling it. After the court’s decision we only hear from them something that no parent ever wants to hear: Mom, dad, please save us,” says one of the mothers.

 

“They’re in a cell with over 25 people, they sleep on the ground, they have food twice a day, they have to buy toiletries on their own,” adds Miloslav Buchta, father of one of the men.

Both men, as well as their Greek lawyer, are shocked by the decision to pursue espionage charges. Dagmar Raupachová, attorney of the two families is preparing their next steps together with their Greek lawyer.

 

*Diplomacy isn’t doing enough, parents say*

The ministry of foreign affairs supposedly assured parents of Mr. Pezlar and Mr. Buchta that its head, minister Karel Schwarzenberg, spoke to his Greek counterpart and that their appeal will be granted and the two will be able to return back home soon. That did not happen. The families will now seek help from president Václav Klaus and prime minister Petr Nečas.

 

The ministry refutes the parents’ statement. “We cannot agree with the statement [that we're not doing enough], because we are very intensely working on this matter from all possible angles,” says Karel Šrol from public relations resort.

 

“The consul has been to the Greek ministry of foreign affairs, she is in contact with the ministry of defense.”. We’re doing everything we can to help the two gentlemen,” the head director of the justice section of the ministry Jana Reinišová said in this morning’s Ozvěny (“Echoes”, a show). She added that the men can appeal one more time.

 

Ivan Buchta and Martin Pezlar have been arrested in September by Greek police because they have been filming and photographing military objects on the island of Lemnos. Both men are employed in a company that produces computer games and are said to have been working on a continuation of a combat game.

Translation by Deadfast

Drawing for Ivan's Daughter.

Posted by & filed under Newspapers.

On November 8 The Czech newspaper Blesk.cz wrote an article, in which they published a letter from Ivan Buchta. This very personal letter shows how dire the situation is, as Ivan writes a few words to his daughter Šárka, and his yet to be born daughter Eliška.

Here is the translated version.

 

Dear Šárka,
I hope you’ve been good and behaving well and that you’re growing and that you’ve leared a lot of new words. I’m really looking forward to carrying you around on my shoulders, we’ll go on a seesaw or go for a juice.
I’m sure you’re having fun with grandma, granpa, aunt and uncle and surely you’re good at riding your bicycle. Until I get back you and your mom can color in the drawing I sent you. Once I’m home we’ll go on that trip.

 

Your dad

PS: Dear Eliška,
I’d like to sing and mumble to you, read to you and told you stories to make your stay in mom’s Belly more comfortable. I hope mom is handling everything to your liking. I can’t wait to meet you!

 

Drawing : http://www.helpivanmartin.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/IvanDrawing.jpg
Source : http://www.blesk.cz/clanek/zpravy-udalosti-pribehy/185069/cech-vezneny-v-recku-pise-dopis-nenarozene-dcerce.html

behindbars

Posted by & filed under Facts, Newspapers.

On November 9,  during a meeting of the Union board the decision was made to continue the protests untill 21 November.

Although this was brought to attention yesterday,  today we got the news confirmed by Martin and Ivan’s lawyer  Panagiotis Eleftherioy.
The president of the Union  of Judges and Prosecutors elaborated their decision with the following motivation.   .
Read the translated notice

During yesterday’s meeting the Governing Council of our Association decided (by majority) to continue protests until 21-11-2012 for two reasons:

1) To express the overwhelming discontent and indignation of all the Judicial Officers - members of our Association (Judges and Prosecutors) both against the government and against the majority of the Parliament who voted for the imposition of new and such a high percentage (over 20%) reductions in constitutionally entrenched judicial officers payroll, which was total rate cuts of over 60%, ignoring the fact that this violated the Constitution (such as an opinion on the 7th-11-2010 and the general meeting of the Areopagus ) and by that becomes problematic the functions of the judiciary, as judges of first grade will have net monthly salary of 1400 € to 1900 €, depending on length of service and will be required to spend the majority of earnings, during the frequent transfers and postings for accommodation and travel in cities other than their family establishment, since these costs are not covered by their service, like other equitable to those government officials (like MPs ).

 

2) To make it clear to the Parliament members that should not consider the issue “closed” by passing the measures. The Judicial Officers of all branches will be ready after a few days to activate and other reaction against the degradation of the validity of Justice and effort to make them appear as their employees. The problem is institutional, not economic.

Besides the discontent and indignation is expressed again our wondering why the Government chose to come in such a deep conflict with the judiciary and create so unsettled situation in the sensitive area of justice, rather than retreat to a reasonable and acceptable level of new wages cuts, as called for all judicial Unions, especially given that all the judges are only 4,000 and the amount of financial benefits and revenue from new cuts in wages is minimum.

We assure the Greek citizens that they can still trust the Greek Judges having in their mind that we do not perform our duties based on our salaries but above that we have as a goal the protection of civil and labor rights and the fight against corruption.

 

President of the Union of Judges and Prosecutors
Royal Christofilos Thanou, Areopagite

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We’re still looking for native Greek translators, contact us [email protected]