Sroubek wants ‘one more chance’

AUCKLAND: Karel Sroubek wants to be given a chance to start over again.

Sroubek, a Czech citizen who was granted residency despite having gang affiliations and serving a prison sentence for smuggling MDMA, told Newshub if he was deported it would be a death sentence.

‘‘There is no safety for me in Europe. I can’t travel under my name anywhere,’’ he said.

‘‘All I want is to be given one more chance.’’

Immigration Minister Iain LeesGalloway has been under fire for his initial decision to grant Sroubek residency.

He has now issued a new deportation liability notice to Sroubek, two months after scrapping Sroubek’s previous one and granting him a New Zealand residence visa under his real name.

It means Sroubek will be ordered out of the country after finishing his drugsmuggling sentence, and will not be allowed to return.

Sroubek is due to be released in 2022. His lawyer, Paul Wicks QC, confirmed he would fight the deportation in the Immigration and Protection Tribunal on humanitarian grounds.

Sroubek acknowledged to Newshub he had returned to the Czech Republic twice in 2009, but it was under a false name.

‘‘I just missed home. I wanted to check on my parents and see if they were all right.’’

He said he was not what has been portrayed in the media.

‘‘I’m not a gangster. I’m not a murderer or a career criminal. I just want to move on and be given a chance to start over again.’’

Immigration lawyer David Ryken, who did not want to comment on specific cases, said a person could take a case to the tribunal on humanitarian grounds.

‘‘Does the IPT consider refugee and protection issues in the course of determining a deportation? Absolutely. Has it done so? Many times.’’

Mr LeesGalloway said Sroubek’s travel to the Czech Republic undermined his claim that his life was in danger, but the IPT may consider that his life is still in sufficient danger. — NZME