Czechs call for pressure on Castro

Former Finance Minister Ivan Pilip: arrested in Cuba

The Czech Republic is appealing for help from the European Union and from Latin American countries to secure the release of two Czech citizens arrested there on subversion charges.

Foreign Minister Jan Kavan has written to Mexico, Chile, the EU and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, to ask for their support in freeing former Czech finance minister Ivan Pilip and ex-student leader Jan Bubenik.

The two men face trial in Cuba for plotting on behalf of the United States and were arrested after meeting Cuban dissidents.

Diplomatic relations between Cuba and the Czech Republic have broken down since the arrest, forcing the Czechs to ask other nations to fight their cause.

Friends in need

"If we are getting any response [from the Cuban side] at all, it is very non-standard," Mr Kavan told Czech radio.

"Cuba has attempted to return the two protest notes we sent there, which is almost impossible. It is possible to refuse to accept such notes but not to return them."

Jan Bubenik: a student leader from the 1989 Velvet Revolution

The Cuban charge d'affaires in Prague has also stopped communicating with the Czech Foreign Ministry.

Mr Kavan said he would now take up an offer made by Slovakia to act as a mediator.

"It is very probable that we will use our Slovak friends to hand over the premier's letter [of protest]," he said.

A delegation of Czech parliamentary deputies will also travel to Cuba to seek the release of Mr Pilip and Mr Bubenik.

'Violation of human rights'

The president of the European Parliament, Nicole Fontaine, said she had called on the Cuban president, Fidel Castro, to release the two Czechs.

"The indictments against the two Czech politicians demonstrate that the Cuban regime does not respect fundamental rights recognised in international conventions, such as freedom of expression and association," said Ms Fontaine's telegram to President Castro.

"Furthermore, the isolation of the two detained men, who have not been able to contact their embassy, constitutes another violation of human rights," the telegram said.

'Counter-revolutionaries'

Cuba has made no official comment on the case, but published accusations in the Communist Party's official newspaper that the two men were US-backed "counter- revolutionary" troublemakers.

Cuba and the Czech Republic, once socialist allies, have had tense relations since the Czechs sponsored a UN condemnation of Havana's human-rights record last April.

In two cases last year - one involving a meeting between two Swedish journalists and dissident Cuban reporters, and another where a retired US academic met opposition figures - the government chose to deport the foreigners rather than bring charges.