Czech president rejects bid to strip Zelenskyy of top state honour

The Czech president's office has rejected an initiative by the opposition Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party to strip Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the country's highest state decoration, the Order of the White Lion.

A spokesperson for President Petr Pavel told Ukraine's state news agency that neither the Czech Constitution nor national legislation gives the president the authority to revoke state honours.

According to the presidential office, a recipient can be deprived of a state decoration only on the basis of a final court ruling imposing the penalty of losing honorary titles and state awards, and only under conditions set out in the country's Criminal Code.

Under Czech law, such a penalty may be imposed if a person is convicted of an intentional criminal offence committed with particularly reprehensible motives and receives an unconditional prison sentence of at least two years.

The SPD had called for Zelenskyy to be stripped of the award, but the presidential office said the request had no legal basis.

Zelenskyy was awarded the Order of the White Lion in October 2022 by then-President Miloš Zeman. At the time, Zeman said the honour recognised the Ukrainian leader's courage in rejecting a U.S. offer of evacuation and remaining in Kyiv following the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

By Aghakazim Guliyev