Prague, Oct 22 (CTK) – Petr Gazdik, Czech Chamber of Deputies deputy head, will organise an alternative event on October 28, the national holiday to mark the establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918, in reaction to President Milos Zeman’s decision to not decorate Jiri Brady, he told CTK Friday.
Gazdik (Mayors and Independents, STAN) told CTK Culture Minister Daniel Herman, Agriculture Minister (both Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) and former prime minister and Senate head Petr Pithart will come to the alternative event on the Old Town Square.
Herman said on Friday that Zeman personally called on him to cancel his planned meeting with the Tibetan Dalai Lama, or else he will not decorate his uncle Brady.
Zeman’s spokesman Jiri Ovcaek denied this information on Czech Radio.
Brady, who survived the Terezin, north Bohemia, and Oswiecim (Auschwitz) Nazi camps said the Presidential Office informed him of the decoration.
However, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) said Brady is not on the list which he received for countersignature.
Gazdik said it is no longer possible to keep silent if state decorations are awarded according to the relatives’ political opinions.
“This is a semi-totalitarian or totalitarian regime, which we experienced under the communist rule or under fascism,” Gazdik said.
He said he believes that the alternative event will be attended by lawmakers from various deputy groups.
