Prague, Oct 16 (CTK) – A Prague court Friday rejected the proposal to punish three activists for replacing the flag flying over the presidential palace with huge red boxer shorts because of poor evidence that the trio hoisted the shorts, the activists’ lawyer Michal Pokorny has told CTK.
The court’s spokeswoman Lenka Cihlarova confirmed the rejection of the charges of breach of peace, theft and damaging other’s property proposed by a state attorney.
The state attorney can file a complaint against the court decision.
Moreover, the damage incurred was not calculated precisely, Pokorny said.
The judge said it was unclear whether the activists damaged the palace’s roof or whether the roof had been damaged before they climbed it, he said.
The damage was estimated at approximately 90,000 crowns.
President Milos Zeman is amazed by the speed in which the judge made the decision, his spokesman Jiri Ovcacek wrote on Twitter in reaction.
The judge decided one week after she received the case from a state attorney. The state attorney needed only a few days to propose the charges and the case was dealt with in a shortened proceeding.
Three members of the Ztohoven artistic group, known for its provocative interferences in public affairs, replaced the presidential flag on the roof of Prague Castle with a pair of giant red boxer shorts on Saturday, September 19.
They released a video of the “performance” on Facebook, saying “the proper flag of a man who is not ashamed of anything finally flies above Prague Castle.”
Ovcacek said the perpetrators had thereby defamed the state symbols.
The Presidential Office is considering new security measures to improve the castle’s protection. Three officials responsible for the guarding of the Castle and the president were sacked over the incident.
