Czech daily news roundup: Monday, May 2, 2022

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

"The weather throughout the week will be similar. At night, mostly fewer clouds 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.

The Czech police have accused a 29-year-old man of having brutally murdered three people: his brother, sister, and father in Kostelec na Hané near Prostějov, south Moravia, last Friday, head of Olomouc's crime department Jan Lisický said today. The man murdered his family members deliberately in an extremely brutal and painful way 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 escape, did not survive the attack either. The perpetrator pursued him and stabbed him to death outside the house. The man only spared the life of his 17-year-old sister, whom he locked in the bathroom. The man testified he had decided to punish his family for his behavior toward him.

Czech lower house chairwoman Markéta Pekarová Adamová kicked off a visit to Sweden Sunday to discuss the upcoming Czech presidency of the Council of the EU and security cooperation in connection with the war in Ukraine. Pekarová Adamová heads a lower house delegation that will be received by Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf and meet Swedish parliament chairman Andreas Norlén. Norlén and Pekarová Adamová are set to discuss the parliamentary aspects of the EU presidency, which Czechia will hold in the second half of the year before passing the baton to Sweden.

Czech support for Ukrainian refugees will not ebb as long as the war in Ukraine continues, as the Czechs can still see the suffering of Ukrainians, President Miloš Zeman said in a weekend interview with CNN Prima News TV broadcast 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 has positive feelings toward Ukrainian refugees but still considers those from the Muslim world to be largely economic migrants and men while mainly women with children have been fleeing from Ukraine. Czechia has granted temporary protection visas to 318,785 Ukrainian refugees so far, 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 percent full, Minister of Industry and Trade 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 50-percent capacity. He said extraordinary measures are being taken so that tanks will be filled to 80 percent capacity prior to cold weather. A bill is in the works for the end of May to require traders with leased capacities at gas storage facilities to use it or lose the leases so that someone else could fill the capacity. 

A series of events marked May 1, the Czech day of labor as well as love, in Prague Sunday with the annual student parade crossing the city, and a stand in the Old Town Square promoting awareness of Russian aggression toward Ukraine. Some 50 students crossed the city center, while the Communist Party, Social Democrats, and anarchists organized gatherings at Střelecký Ostrov, and the SPOLU coalition launched their campaign for the upcoming municipal elections from Petřín Hill.

Spaces of the Czech parliament will be open to the public on May 8, the state holiday commemorating the end of World War II. Normally inaccessible spaces will be opened in 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 Wallenstein Palace, people can see the Main Hall, the Knights' and Audience Hall, the Mythological Hall. In the Kolowrat Palace, the Pink and Green Lounges will be open. Thun Palace will have an exhibition on the building’s development.