In the Czech Republic, the far-right political force "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD), which is part of the ruling coalition, wants Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be stripped of the highest Czech state award - the Order of the White Lion, the office of Czech President Petr Pavel has reacted, writes UNN citing ČTK.
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The chairman of the PRO party from the SPD parliamentary group, Jindřich Rajchl, told journalists on June 30 that this should happen following the example of Poland, where President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle. According to him, SPD will advocate in the government coalition for the Chamber of Deputies to propose to Czech President Petr Pavel to revoke the order.
Czech President's spokesman Vojtěch Šeliga, responding to a question from ČTK, stated that neither the constitution nor the law grants the head of state the authority to decide on the revocation of a state award. According to him, this is only possible based on a final court decision.
Zelenskyy received the Order of the White Lion in October 2022 from then-Czech President Miloš Zeman. At that time, Zeman called "his courage and bravery in refusing the American offer of safe haven and remaining in the then-warring Kyiv" after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 the main reason for the award.
"A state award conferred or presented by the President of the Republic may be revoked only on the basis of a final court decision that imposes a penalty of deprivation of honorary titles and distinctions," said President Pavel's spokesman. According to the law, this penalty may be imposed upon conviction to an unconditional prison term of at least two years for an intentional crime committed with a particularly reprehensible motive.
The SPD proposal, it is noted, has been criticized by some opposition politicians. MP from KDU-ČSL Benjamin Činčila hopes that representatives of the "Motorists" (Motoristé) party and the ANO movement will have enough sense not to support it. He told journalists before the Chamber session that KDU-ČSL will be fundamentally opposed to it. "I consider this a truly cowardly disgrace, it certainly matches the working style of SPD," said another MP from KDU-ČSL, Václav Plateník.
"Removing flags and taking away awards, all under hateful, generalizing rhetoric. That's all the infamous politics of SPD, in short, they managed to do it when (Prime Minister) Andrej Babiš (ANO) brought them to power after years of deserved political basement," said Vít Rakušan, chairman of the STAN movement, on the X network.
"SPD wants to take away the Order of the White Lion from Volodymyr Zelenskyy. I would rather think about whether some of its representatives should not be limited in their self-confidence. They obviously don't need it anyway, when instructions come directly from Moscow, and they then just obediently reproduce them," also wrote Deputy Chairman of TOP 09, Marek Ženíšek.