A German national was detained in the Czech Republic last week due to an entry ban from the DDR era, only to be released later. The unusual case has not lost its peculiar nature.
According to the online portal Novinky, the German was listed as an undesirable person in the Czech Republic because he, as a DDR citizen, had fled to the West via the then Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1984. When the man checked into a hotel in the northern part of the country and the establishment registered him with the police, a more than 40-year-old entry appeared and the police took the “persona non grata” into custody.
Hotels in the Czech Republic are required to register foreigners. “At the moment a person is entered, it is forwarded to the police to see if the person is on this specific list” explained a police spokesperson about the incident.
The German was taken to a Liberec police station for questioning and then released. However, he was required to leave the country within seven days. The entry ban remains in effect and can only be lifted through a court process, the Czech police said. The case has apparently also surprised the authorities, with the police spokesperson stating that she was unaware of a similar case in North Bohemia.