Czechs accused of harsh detentions of Syrian refugees

PRAGUE - When two young Syrian refugees crossed the Czech border from Slovakia in a smuggler's car last month they thought their dangerous 24-day journey to Germany would be over in hours.

Instead the 23-year-old friends were arrested, handcuffed, strip-searched and detained six weeks by Czech authorities, with sporadic access to legal aid or interpreters and little chance to contact families.

'They took us to a police station somewhere underground,” said one of the Syrians, using the name Ramez. 'They told us that we entered the country without a visa and that it would take only a couple of hours. In the end, it was 40 days.”

Police took away their phones and money, he said, and they were charged for bed and board.

Their experience has been shared by hundreds of others subject to strict immigration policies enforced by the Czech authorities. The tough stance on immigration has put the Czechs alongside Slovakia, Hungary and Romania on a collision course with more lenient EU partners led by Germany.

Interior Minister Milan Chovanec defended the Czech policy, saying the law obliges police to detain illegal entrants.

'We are not a xenophobic country. On the other hand, you need to realize that those people break the law: they entered Czech territory without valid documents,” he said.