Czech Embassy’s No. 2 Official Defects to U.S., Receives Asylum

The deputy chief of the Czechoslovakian Embassy has defected to the United States and has been granted political asylum, the Immigration and Naturalization Service said Thursday.

The envoy, identified as Milan Svec, was the No. 2 man in the embassy under Ambassador Stanislav Suja, INS spokesman Duke Austin said. Government sources, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified, said Svec carried the rank of minister-counselor at the time of his defection in May.

Svec has spent most of the last two months in extensive debriefings by FBI and other U.S. officials, but what information he has given them was not known. He could not be reached for comment.

Defection Made Public

The sources would not elaborate on why Svec defected but said that he was willing to have his defection made public at this time.

The U.S. government granted Svec political asylum May 14, the sources said. They declined to describe the government’s reasons for granting asylum in this case. In general, political asylum is available to those from hostile countries who might be persecuted for their political beliefs if they returned home.

Svec’s family also had been granted asylum in the United States, one U.S. official said. Svec’s willingness to allow his defection to become publicly known in this country suggested that he might not have close relatives remaining in Czechoslovakia who could be subject to reprisals.

A man who identified himself as Ambassador Suja told United Press International by telephone: “I don’t know of any defection. I don’t have any comment on the matter.”

Embassy Response

But Jaroslav Kubista, the second secretary at the embassy, said: “Milan Svec is not any longer with the embassy. He has left on May 12.”

Kubista declined to say where Svec was or to comment on the report that Svec had defected to the United States.

Svec’s age and what posts he had previously held in the Czechoslovakian government were not immediately available.