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Czechoslovakia: Article 109 of the Penal Code of Czechoslovakia

An Amnesty International document, The Imprisonment of Persons Seeking to Leave a Country or to Return to Their Own Country, states the following:

Article 109 of the penal code of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (CSSR) provides: "Whoever leaves the territory of the Republic without permission shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of six months to five years, by reformatory measure or by forfeiture of property". Paragraph 2 states that "the same punishment shall be imposed on a Czechoslovak citizen who stays abroad without permission. Paragraph 3 of the same article imposes penalties of imprisonment of three to ten years for certain other acts including organizing the acts in paragraph 1 and 2 or taking across a frontier a group of persons who are leaving without permission. [Amnesty International, The Imprisonment of Persons Seeking to Leave a Country or to Return to Their Own Country (London: Amnesty International, 1986), p. 7.]

Official Czechoslovak government statistics indicate that about 450 people are imprisoned annually for offenses under Article 109. [, Amnesty International Report 1988 (London: Amnesty International, 1988), p. 197.] Details of most cases tried under this article are not available. [Ibid.] Some of them do, however, come to the attention of Amnesty International. In one instance, a man was imprisoned following his attempt to swim the Danube from Czechoslovakia to Hungary. Charged under Article 109, he received a sentence of two years and three months. [Op. cit., Amnesty International (1986), p. 8] Another man was sentenced, in August 1979, to one year in jail for a similar offence. [Amnesty International, Amnesty International Briefing: Czechoslovakia (London: Amnesty International, 1981), p. 9.] Perhaps the extent to which the Article is applied is best illustrated by the case of Diamkos Zigouris. Charged and sentenced in absentia after he left the CSSR in 1974 to take up residence in the Federal Republic of Germany, Zigouris was arrested in 1984 while travelling in Czechoslovakia on a Greek passport with a valid Czech entry visa. He was required to serve the sentence originally imposed upon him in 1976 for violating Article 109. [Op. cit., Amnesty International (1986), p. 8.]

An amnesty declared in May 1985 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II specifically exempted the criminal offence of illegal departure. [Ibid.] Conversely, a general amnesty was announced 27 October 1988 for persons convicted of leaving the country without permission. [U.S Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989), p. 1027.] However, the Department of External Affairs warns that this amnesty was not a "blanket" amnesty; the conditions were very limited.

When contacted in August 1989 by the IRBDC, the Department of External Affairs was very sceptical about the harmonization of Czech law and practice on this account. In essence, the usual punishments were meted out to those who violate the penal code articles on illegal exit. A telex from the Canadian embassy in Prague states that the penalties in the past have been mixed, but have included heavy fines and/or imprisonment. Returnees as well as their relatives have reportedly also suffered the loss of employment and the refusal of admission to post-secondary education. External Affairs commented that the Czechoslovakian authorities view overstaying as a criminal act. The Department further commented to the effect that Czechoslovakia does not encourage its former citizens who are residents abroad to return, unlike other socialist countries. The Department of External Affairs further cautioned in August that a Czechoslovakian citizen who has overstayed exit permission should not approach the Czech embassy in Canada to "regularize" exit permission. The information provided to the IRBDC by the Department of External Affairs can not be corroborated in published sources at the present time.

No further information is available regarding the details of recent trials and sentences involving Article 109. For further information on the subject of freedom of travel to and from Czechoslovakia, please see the attached excerpt from the Helsinki Watch document entitled Human Rights in Czechoslovakia 1988 (pp. 41-49 attached).

Please note, however, that in view of the recent political changes in Czechoslovakia, the current application of Article 109 is unclear to the IRBDC. The government of Czechoslovakia announced on 14 November 1989 that citizens would no longer require an exit visa to travel to Western countries and Yugoslavia. ["Czechoslovakia eases travel curbs", The Globe and Mail, 15 November 1989, p. A1; "Prague va supprimer les visas de sortie", La Presse, 15 novembre 1989; "Prague permettra ses citoyens de voyager en Occident", Le Devoir, 15 novembre 1989.] The date for entry into effect of these measures and the possible impact upon those who violated the previous travel laws is not known.