Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Ján Kubiš said after the Government Session on October 24 that his ministry would ask Cuba to explain why it hadn't allowed Peter Novotný, a Slovak citizen who was deported from Cuba, to contact his diplomatic mission. According to the minister, it's unnecessary to turn to the International Court of Justice in Hague yet.
Novotný of the Civic Eye organisation was in Cuba as an observer of local elections along with his Czech interpreter. They had been sent to Cuba by Czech organisation Člověk v tísni (People in Peril). Novotný says they had been in Cuba since October 18, and on October 20 in the town of Santa Clara, they met Cuban dissident and independent journalist Guillermo Farinas, with whom they discussed the principles of free and fair elections. On Sunday, October 21, they were awoken by police and deported to Havana, where they were detained for the whole day before being deported to Europe. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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