The Czech Republic proposes to strip Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Lion
The Czech Republic’s coalition party Freedom and Direct Democracy proposes to strip Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Lion, the highest state award of the Czech Republic. This was reported by the Ceske Noviny portal.
Representative of the SPD parliamentary faction Jindřich Raichl said that the party wants to raise this issue at a meeting of the coalition council. According to him, the Czech Chamber of Deputies should propose to Czech President Petr Pavel to revoke the award.
“We cannot remain silent when our highest state award is held by a person who calls military units by the names of Nazi monsters,” said Jindřich Raichl.
The SPD initiative is related to the decision of Polish President Karol Nawrocki to strip Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle after naming one of the units of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in honor of the heroes of the UPA.
Volodymyr Zelensky received the Order of the White Lion in October 2022 from the then President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman. At that time, the reason for the award was his courage after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Czech legislation provides for the possibility of deprivation of state awards in the event of a court decision. Such a punishment can be applied after a conviction to unconditional imprisonment for a term of at least two years for an intentional crime committed with particularly shameful motives.
The SPD proposal was criticized by some opposition politicians. In particular, the head of the STAN party Vit Rakushan called the party’s actions a manifestation of rhetoric directed against Ukraine.
Currently, the SPD initiative is a political proposal. To actually deprive Zelensky of the Order of the White Lion, legally prescribed grounds and an appropriate procedure are required.
