Overview of Czech news: Monday, May 2, 2022

The Czech Republic is expecting a week of showers and thunderstorms, which could be sporadically heavy on Tuesday. Daily high temperatures will average around 17 degrees Celsius during the first week of May, the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ) predicts.

“Weather throughout the week will be similar. At night mostly less cloud and minimal precipitation, while during the day there will be cumulus clouds and occasional showers or thunderstorms. Temperatures will be normal.” , meteorologists tweeted this morning.

Czech police have charged a 29-year-old man with brutally murdering three people: his brother, sister and father at Kostelec na Hané near Prostějov in southern Moravia last Friday, the head of the crime department of Olomouc, Jan Lisický. The man deliberately murdered his family members in an extremely brutal and painful manner with hunting knives. He now faces up to 20 years in prison or an exceptional sentence, which ranges from 20 to 30 years, or even life imprisonment in the Czech Republic.

Detectives say he first killed his 23-year-old brother, stabbing him at least 40 times. Then he attacked the 21-year-old sister who returned home after walking the dog. The 57-year-old father, who tried to flee, also did not survive the attack. The assailant chased him and stabbed him to death in front of the house. The man only spared the life of his 17-year-old sister, whom he locked in the bathroom. The man testified that he decided to punish his family for their behavior towards him.

Czech Speaker of the Lower House, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, started a visit to Sweden on Sunday to discuss the upcoming Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU and security cooperation in the context of the war in Ukraine. Pekarová Adamová is leading a delegation from the lower house which will be received by Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf and will meet the Speaker of the Swedish Parliament Andreas Norlén. Norlén and Pekarová Adamová are due to discuss the parliamentary aspects of the EU presidency, which Czechia will hold in the second half of the year before handing over to Sweden.

Czech support for Ukrainian refugees will not diminish as long as the war in Ukraine continues because Czechs can still see the suffering of Ukrainians, President Miloš Zeman said in a weekend interview with CNN Prima News TV broadcast today. today. His remarks come in response to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s prediction that the armed conflict could drag on for months or even years.

Zeman said he had positive feelings towards Ukrainian refugees, but still saw those from the Muslim world as largely economic migrants and men, while it was mainly women with children who fled. Ukraine. So far, Czechia has granted temporary protection visas to 318,785 Ukrainian refugees, and a total of 208,035 of them have registered with the foreign police.

As of May 1, gas storage facilities in the Czech Republic were 30% full, Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Síkela told Czech television on Sunday. The amount of gas in reserves to date exceeds 1 billion cubic meters. By the end of the month, Síkela would like to reach 50% of its capacity. He said extraordinary measures were being taken to ensure that the reservoirs were filled to 80% of their capacity before the cold weather. A bill is in the works for the end of May to force traders with leased capacity in gas storage facilities to use it or lose the leases so someone else can fill the capacity.

A series of events marked May Day, the Czech Day of Work and Love, in Prague on Sunday with the annual student parade passing through the city and a stand in Old Town Square to raise awareness of Russian aggression against Ukraine. About 50 students marched through the city center, while the Communist Party, Social Democrats and Anarchists held rallies in Střelecký Ostrov, and the SPOLU coalition launched its campaign for the upcoming municipal elections from Petřín Hill.

The spaces of the Czech parliament will be open to the public on May 8, a public holiday commemorating the end of World War II. Normally inaccessible spaces will be opened at Wallenstein Palace and Kolowrat Palace, where the Senate is located, as well as Thun Palace, which is the seat of the Chamber of Deputies. Guided tours will be in Czech. In the Wallenstein Palace, people can see the main hall, the hall of knights and audiences, the mythological hall. In the Kolowrat Palace, the pink and green salons will be open. Thun Palace will present an exhibition on the development of the building.