FIS staff, TV crew robbed at World Cup event

Representatives of the International Skiing Federation and the staff of the German television company ARD who visited a ski jumping World Cup event here were robbed on Saturday afternoon, World Cup spokesman Zdenek Soudny told the Czech News Agency on Sunday.
Liberec, North Bohemia — Representatives of the International Skiing Federation and the staff of the German television company ARD who visited a ski jumping World Cup event here were robbed on Saturday afternoon, World Cup spokesman Zdenek Soudny told the Czech News Agency on Sunday.
    The perpetrator stole five notebooks, money and a camera from the five rooms in the hotel in which they were staying, Soudny said.
    "Among the robbed guests, there was also Minemuru Yutaka, Japanese assistant to the FIS technical delegate, and referee Hiroki Chonan," Soudny said.
    Police spokeswoman Jarmila Hrubesova said 1200 euros had been lost, too. The total damage was preliminarily put at several hundreds of thousands of crowns.
    "The case is being investigated. The hotel has its own detectives and it uses its chip cards as a measure against thieves," Hrubesova said.
    She said no other serious crime had occurred in and around Liberec during the World Cup event.
    "The hotel manager has refused to accept responsibility for the theft and did not say how the hotel would cover the damage to the guests. The behavior of the hotel manager and the personnel has outraged all the robbed guests and members of the World Cup organizational committee," Soudny said.
    "We feel very sorry at the theft and we have been solving the unpleasant situation," said Michaela Winklerova, spokeswoman for the hotel Zlaty Lev. "The hotel director has announced the event to the insurance company and told the guests who suffered the damage.
    "They will be compensated for the lost things. We have passed recordings from security systems in the hotel to the police," Winklerova added.
    No trace of violence has been found at the doors of the rooms in question, she added.

 — From the Czech News Agency (ČTK)