KOLKATA, September 10, 2008 (AFP) - A renowned Czech entomologist has been sentenced to three years in prison by a court in northeast India for collecting rare species of insects in a national park, a report said.

Emil Kucera, 52, was however granted bail to allow him to appeal, the Press Trust of India news agency reported Wednesday.

Kucera and his colleague Petr Svacha, 51, were arrested with more than 50 butterflies and several other rare species of insects in June at a hotel in West Bengal's hill resort of Darjeeling.

The men were Monday found guilty by a court in Darjeeling of unlawful entry into the national park and destruction of protected species.

Svacha escaped a prison sentence and was fined 20,000 rupees (500 dollars).

'Svacha offered in a website to sell the butterflies and quoted prices for them.' Utpal Nag, a local forestry officer, had told AFP Monday.

'They were also carrying a suitcase filled with equipment to catch insects.'

Kucera told the court they had caught 200 insects, but no protected species were among them, and that they were not in the Singalila national park.

Svacha is a well-known scientist from the Entomological Institute of the Czech Academy of Science, and Kucera has published a number of works on the basis of which about 100 new species of insect have been identified.

The Czech scientists have been backed by many in the international scientific community.

A petition with more than 600 signatures, mostly by scientists, demanding the Czechs' release has been collected for presentation to the Indian prime minister.