Czech distributors of methanol-tainted liquor get jail sentences and fines

Ostrava, North Moravia, Dec 19 (ČTK) — The Ostrava regional court today sentenced two men, Jaromír Pánek and Šimon Kramarčík, to 10 and eight years in prison for selling methanol-tainted spirits and causing the deaths of three people.

The verdict has not taken effect yet. Pánek appealed it on the spot. Kramarčík and the state attorney are considering it.

Pánek distributed poisonous ethanol and Kramarčík produced alcohol from it and sold it in Český Těšín, north Moravia. Pánek had contact with one of the main producers of the methanol-tainted alcohol, Rudolf Fian.

Kramarčík admitted his guilt, but Pánek did not cooperate with the police and the court and this is why his sentence is higher.

The two men also must pay more than 1 million Kč to health insurance companies, those harmed and the relatives of the victims.

The judge lowered the financial demands of some of the harmed people, arguing that they had been irresponsible when they had bought and drunk alcohol of unclear origin. “They knew the alcohol is from illegal sources. They must bear a part of the responsibility,” he said.

Kramarčík and Pánek claim that they did not know that the ethanol could harm people’s health. But Kramarčík was still selling the lethal spirits when the first victims of lethal tainted liquor were reported in the country.

According to the prosecution, three people died and four had to be treated in hospital after drinking spirits they bought from Kramarčík in Sept. 2012. He sold the last bottles with the poisonous spirits on Sept. 14, which was the day when an absolute ban on alcohol sales was declared in the Czech Republic.

“The suspect admitted that he followed the media. He even got afraid and started liquidating his supply of ethanol. He nevertheless kept selling the spirits he produced,” the court head said.

The methanol case started on Sept. 3, 2012. After several people died of methanol poisoning within a few days in Moravia, the eastern part of the country, the Czech authorities adopted extensive measures, which prevented the number of victims from steeply growing, but people were still dying.

In total, some 50 people have died of methanol poisoning and the health of 140 others was seriously damaged after drinking the illegally tainted spirits.

The main trial within the methanol case ended in May and the two men who prepared the poisonous spirits, Fian and Tomáš Křepela received life sentences. They both appealed the verdict.

The court imposed high prison sentences on seven other people, sellers and distributors of the illegal spirits. Courts all over the country are still dealing with related cases.

Read more: http://www.praguepost.com/food-and-drink/43387-two-more-czechs-punished-in-poison-liquor-case#ixzz3MQxzwyTk

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