They also told Maly, member of Czech Entomologists' Association, that they were informed that their trial would take Indian troops in Congo gold warning ...
Czech entomologists arrested in India may be released on bail ... place on July 21 though local judiciary employees are on strike. The two Czechs, Emil Kucera, 52, and Petr Svacha, 51, were detained close to the Singalila National Park, the Bangla state, on June 23 because they did not have an official permit to collect insects. Since then they have been in custody in Darjeeling. If found guilty, the two scientists face up to seven years in prison under the Indian law. The Indian press speculated that the two Czechs may belong to an international network of smugglers of rare insect species. Kucera said they were accused of having entered the Singalila National Park without a permit and collected products of nature. The two entomologists have issued a statement saying they were not collecting insects in Singalila and that they did not even enter the park. Kucera said they had caught some 200 pieces of insect, but no protected species were among them, mostly at the tourist dormitory in a village.
There was no sign around, informing them that they were close to the national park, he added. Kucera said the local clerks were exploring the seized material until late at night. After midnight they were asked to sign some 20 empty forms, which they did under stress. Only later they realised they made a mistake, he said. The clerks admitted in court that these forms existed, Kucera added. Czech Ambassador to India Hynek Kmonicek said the court might on Monday decide on the Czech scientists release on bail. Svacha is a renowned scientist from the Entomological Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Kucera has published a number of works on the basis of which some 100 new species of insect have been identified, Kmonicek said. The Czech scientists have also been backed by the international scientific community. A petition with more than 600 signatures, mostly by scientists, demanding the Czechs' release has been addressed to the Indian prime minister.
(Ceske Noviny)
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