Prague, April 3 (CTK) – The Czech Republic will try to check in what conditions the Michalak brothers stay in Norway where they have lived with foster parents since they were taken away from their biological family, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka says in a written answer to MPs’ question CTK has received.
Sobotka’s answer was released to CTK by the committee of Michalakova’s supporters.
Sobotka wrote that the Czech Republic will again ask the Norwegian authorities for ensuring that the boys have links to the Czech environment and that they learn Czech.
He wrote that the country will support the brothers’ mother, Eva Michalakova, in her possible complaint with the European Human Rights Court in Strasbourg.
The Norwegian Social Service Barnevernet took Denis, almost 12 years old now, and David, 8, from their Czech parents on suspicion of abuse, neglect and maltreatment in 2011.
This was not confirmed, but the court considered the findings serious and left the children with foster parents.
In 2015, Norwegian authorities decided to strip Michalakova of her parental rights to both sons, while it kept the father’s rights.
The mother appealed the verdict, but failed and she is going to file a complaint with the European Court of Human
Rights in Strasbourg, where she has already once lost her cause.
Her lawyer Nora Bokova said previously that Norway does not accuse Michalakova of anything and that she has been stripped of her parental rights “because she spoke in public” about the matter and informed the public about the case through the media.
The public Czech Radio quoted the Norwegian regional court’s verdict as saying that Michalakova used the media at the cost of her sons’ privacy.
Denis and David live separately in two foster families, with which they have spent a major part of their lives.
Norwegian authorities proposed that David be adopted in 2015, but the appeals court rejected this.
Norwegian institutions have kept silent on the case and information has only been provided by Michalakova’s supporters.
Some media and experts say it is not possible to form a clear opinion based on the stance of only one side to the dispute.
The Norwegian embassy in Prague previously wrote on its web page that the media need not present the matter “based on all relevant information” and that Norwegian institutions cannot “react to incorrect claims” because of their pledge of confidentiality and with respect to the protection of the boys’ privacy.
