The removal of the Commune from the list of monuments was unlawful

Prague/Olomouc - The removal of the Přerov cooperative house Trávník, nicknamed Komuna, from the list of monuments exhibited such flaws that a court would overturn this decision if reviewed. This follows from a legal analysis commissioned by the Minister of Culture Václav Jehlička. Jehlička's personal secretary Renata Slámková informed ČTK about this today.
    The employees of the ministry who committed the erroneous procedure - former Deputy Minister František Formánek and Vladimíra Koubová - have already left their positions and no longer work at the ministry.
    According to Petra Ulbrichová from the Ministry's Heritage Care Department, Komuna, as a so-called workers' monument, had already passed scrutiny several years ago and remained on the list of cultural monuments. She considers last year's deletion a fundamental mistake. "Like in every administrative proceeding, certain evidence was collected that in many cases supported preservation. However, this was no longer worked with, as the then-first deputy Formánek visited the site and decided without sufficiently justifying it. As a deputy, he is not authorized to lead administrative proceedings and could not interfere. It was done in an outrageous manner," Ulbrichová told ČTK today.
    However, neither the then-deputy nor Koubová will be punished for their actions. "There is no criminal liability there, unfortunately. They are no longer employees of the office, so nothing can be done at this moment," said the Chief Director of the Minister's Section Milan Kupka to ČTK.
    Formánek, however, defends himself by stating that there were fundamental discrepancies in the documents he received during the proceedings. He considered his visit to Přerov a duty to examine the discrepancies on-site. "The proceedings regarding Komuna were in no way expedited; my role in this process was marginal. It was just one personal visit to the site and one record, which is one of hundreds of documents in the file," he stated in his statement available to ČTK. He also pointed out that the termination of heritage protection by the Ministry of Culture does not give anyone a demolition order. "Only the local building authority can issue that," Formánek added.
    According to Formánek, the Ministry's Heritage Care Department based its assessment of the case on the opinions of the region and the city, which he claimed supported the removal of protection; the NPÚ opposed it. "Their weight is evident, and the department decided accordingly. It is therefore not true that the officials of the MK prepared a rejection decision and their superiors (Koubová and Formánek) changed the decision," Formánek says. He also claims it is not true that the decision was primarily based on the record of the local inspection. That was merely information for the Deputy Minister about his visit to the site and the condition of the building, he stated.
    Today, heritage conservationists from Olomouc condemned the removal of the building from the list of monuments once again. "A poor technical state of the building is not a reason for the cancellation of state heritage protection. The ideologies of the past have been opportunistically narrowed down only to the communist period," said František Chupík from the Olomouc office of the National Heritage Institute to reporters today.
    According to the head of the office Pavel Konečný, there is a lack of civic initiatives in the field of heritage care in the country, as there is, for example, in Great Britain. "All actions in Přerov were aimed at narrowing the heritage zone and the number of monuments. The people of Přerov have now received sufficient warning. I hope this will be a wake-up call for them and they will start behaving differently," commented institute employee Martina Mertová.
    The bulldozer started demolishing the building in mid-February. The object was removed from the list of cultural monuments last year with the support of the Přerov city council. Based on the efforts of conservationists and part of the people of Přerov, the Ministry of Culture decided to initiate administrative proceedings at the beginning of February, which was to result in the return of the house to the list of monuments. However, the decision regarding this step could not be delivered to the property owner. The demolition of the house was only halted last Thursday, when the decision to initiate administrative proceedings became legally binding. However, not much remained of the house.
    Today, the Ministry of Culture informed ČTK that it is terminating the proceedings on the declaration of the cooperative house as a cultural monument. "Since the house has been demolished, the ministry will terminate the proceedings after it receives the legally prescribed opinions. It is impossible to declare something that does not exist as a cultural monument," said the ministry representatives. The demolition of the remaining parts of the former monument is halted until the proceedings are completed.