Austrian police catch man wanted for raping a woman in Prague

Police in Linz, Austria, on Monday arrested a 25-year-old man who was sought in connection with the rape of a woman in Prague's Letná neighborhood. The suspect was in the Czech capital as a tourist.

"On the basis of the information obtained and further investigations, detectives managed to establish that the wanted man had left our republic for Austria," Czech police spokeswoman Eva Kropáčová said. The man, who is not a citizen of the Czech Republic, was tracked down and subsequently detained by Czech police in cooperation with their Austrian counterparts.

"At the moment, proceedings are underway to extradite him to the Czech Republic. After his extradition, questioning and other criminal proceedings will take place and for this reason, we will not provide any further information on the matter at this time," Kropáčová said, thanking the public and the media for their help in the search.

Privacy laws prevent the publication of the suspect’s name or photograph. If convicted of rape, the suspect faces up to 10 years in prison. Earlier, police officers said that the young woman was brutally physically assaulted and then raped in the early hours of June 17 by a man who had attended a musical event called Antigona Prague, held at Stalin, the space below the Metronome in Letná Park. He then went to Štefánikův Bridge, where he approached female passers-by at around 2 a.m.