Pitr withdraws Swiss asylum request, will be brought home

Convicted Czech entrepreneur Tomáš Pitr, who has been in police custody in Switzerland since July of 2010, has withdrawn his application for asylum and will be extradited to the Czech Republic. The Justice Ministry announced Tuesday that it had received an official statement from the Swiss authorities on the matter. Pitr´s lawyer recently told the media that he would return to the Czech Republic because he believed his right to a fair trial was starting to be respected and he wanted to be closer to his family. In 2006, a Czech court sentenced Pitr, one of the richest men in the Czech Republic, to five years in prison for tax fraud worth 51 million crowns. He failed to report to prison, however, and has been hiding abroad since mid-2007.