Czech MP Turek apologizes to environmental group DUHA by court order

Czech MP Turek posted on Facebook an apology to the environmental organization Hnutí DUHA – Friends of the Earth, which a court had ordered him to make, but in the same post he once again attacked the organization with accusations. The court ruled on Hnutí DUHA's lawsuit in mid-September.

What the MP apologized for

“I apologize to Hnutí DUHA – Friends of the Earth for the statement I posted on my Facebook page on 24 April. I apologize for saying that the movement blocked construction of the Nové Heřminovy dam, which caused people to die. I also called you parasites who need to be exterminated, for which I also apologize. This statement damaged your reputation and did not correspond to the truth,” the MP wrote.

And a new attack right away

Turek immediately added that he did not want to apologize for everything. According to him, construction of the dam, which Hnutí DUHA had fought against for 29 years, has already been approved and will go ahead regardless. “You put so much effort into this, so much money — and all for nothing,” he wrote, adding that the ministry had fired all of the organization's “friends”: former official Martin Sedlák, Martin Ander, Petr Holub, climate activist Abel, and even anti-nuclear activist Sequens, whom Holub had hired as an adviser.

The MP also pointed out that the government had cut 700 million crowns in environmental education and grant funding for Hnutí DUHA — he said the organization had been pushing to “flood Czechia with wind farms,” but their capacity had been cut by 90% and the limits tightened. Turek promised to print his apology in A2 format so the organization could hang it in its office.

Environmentalists call the apology insufficient

Hnutí DUHA said the MP's post does not fulfill the obligation imposed on him by the court's final ruling. “His statement this evening amused us, especially the part where he threatens to cut off non-existent giant subsidies. His Facebook post certainly cannot be considered proper fulfillment of the required obligation, and we continue to expect the apology to be published in accordance with the court's ruling. If Mr. Turek fails to fulfill his obligation, we will have to pursue this through further legal steps,” said movement spokeswoman Eva Pernicová.

This is not the first apology Czech courts have ordered an MP to make recently: Turek previously lost a similar case against the company Seznam, and the court likewise ordered him to apologize publicly.

Source: novinky.cz