Interior minister: German readmission request for 25 Iraqis has shortcomings

The Czech Republic will not for the time being take back the 25 Iraqi refugees who left the country for Germany last week on the grounds that the German readmission request has formal shortcomings and in not fully in line with European legislation, Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said on Friday. The group of 25 Christian refugees from Iraq arrived in the Czech Republic within a government supported relocation program for 150 refugees initiated and financed by the NGO Generation 21. However after a few weeks here they gave up their refugee status and hired a bus to take them to Germany where they asked for asylum. The government later decided to cancel the program.