KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK WEDNESDAY
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MAY 16, 2018 | Volume 31 No. 39
DUPLICATING DARWIN TODAY’S WEATHER
Sunny and hot High 33 C Low 19 C
BLAZER BEAT
TRU professor follows the path of the Beagle in epic trip in Southern Hemisphere
From Don Hay’s retirement to losing Massimo Rizzo
COMMUNITY/A17
SPORTS/A27
A KTW EXCLUSIVE
From TRU to a cold prison cell in Slovakia, David Scheffel tells his tale DALE BASS
STAFF REPORTER
dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
D
avid Scheffel thought he was flying from Kamloops to Slovakia for a conversation with police in the city of Presov. Within hours of arriving last November, however, he was in a small cell being fed “inedible gruel, white rolls and tap water, which I had to drink from my cupped hands,” the Thompson Rivers University professor told KTW. “I was denied a toothbrush or toothpaste, as well as any outdoor exercise,” he said in a letter to this newspaper. “Throughout the three days and nights, I heard screams and moans from people occupying adjoining cells, most of them Roma.” Scheffel, an anthropologist, remains incarcerated in the Eastern European country facing charges all who know him say are ludicrous and trumped-up. Scheffel had flown to Slovakia to address what he had originally
Thompson Rivers University professor David Scheffel has been in a Slovak prison since last fall.
More Inside See A10
thought were issues stemming from his research in 2015. The Slovak police have charged him with arms trafficking, child pornography and sexual violence. Requests for bail have been rejected and Scheffel has been moved from the remand centre to
another prison facility. The Canadian government has said there is nothing it can do because Scheffel does not have Canadian citizenship. He came to the country as a teenager alongside his sister and parents in 1968 when, in response to reform movements in Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union sent troops into the country. In 1993, the country split into two — the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Scheffel has lived in Canada for decades, but has Dutch citizenship. KTW has contacted Global Affairs Canada three times asking if it has or will intercede; the response states the Dutch are responsible for any action. “Following my imprisonment, my family and I appealed to the Dutch embassy in Slovakia to provide whatever support it could,” Scheffel said. “So far, I have had one visit from the Dutch honorary consul in Presov, who warned me that Dutch authorities cannot interfere in the conduct of the Slovak judiciary.” See SCHEFFEL, A11
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
DAVE EAGLES/KTW
South Kamloops secondary students Hayden Arneil, left, and Deegan LudwigKonrad cool off in the sunshine of Pioneer Park during their lunch break on Tuesday. The heat wave, which was expected to set a record of 33 C on Tuesday, is expected to continue through the Victoria Day long weekend.
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