František Zálešák, a farmer from Klínový Buda in the Krkonoše Mountains, had his land lease agreement terminated by the Krkonoše National Park Administration (KRNAP) after disputes forced him to leave the mountain meadows. The district court in Trudno rejected his case in January, and farmer Hradec Kralov failed to appeal to the regional court.
On Thursday, he confirmed that the district court’s ruling was valid. The end is final. The only possibility is to appeal against him to the Supreme Court.
The KRNAP administration leased 32 hectares of meadows in Přední Planina and Klínovky to the farmer. After conflicts, he ended his collaboration with her in the summer of 2021. He terminated the lease agreements from 2017 to 2019 and filed a criminal complaint against Zálešák. The notice period had already expired last September.
He allegedly threatened the security guards
According to conservationists, the owner verbally assaulted and threatened park management staff. The businessman said the contracts were stopped in retaliation for drawing attention to the black dump, which no one wanted to remove, and filed a criminal complaint.
The regional court postponed the meeting several times, but this time it was already decided, although only representatives of the KRNAP administration came to the meeting room on Thursday. The Regional Court affirmed the Trudnov District Court, which held that the park administration had given notice to the farmer as required by law. Both lease agreements are terminable without cause.
“The decision of the district court is substantially correct, the appellate objections duplicate the position of the plaintiff in the first instance proceedings. She cannot accept the fact that she was removed from the lease with insufficient notice. Whatever the reasons for the decision, it does not play any role in assessing the validity of the decision,” said Judge Romana Novakova.
The decision of the Regional Court is final. The farmer can appeal to the Supreme Court within two months. It is not clear whether he will use this drug. The editor of MF DNES tried to contact František Zálešák, who did not appear at the court, but the farmer did not pick up the phone.
The spokesman for the KRNAP administration, Radek Drahný, confirmed that he is still farming the land in Přední Planina and Klínové bouda.
“He has not left the ground yet. Courts of various cases have confirmed that we have done the right thing. Now we will decide how to release the land so that it can be farmed there,” said Drani. According to him, it is not yet clear whether the park management will manage the grasslands themselves or lease them back to another owner.
He did not allow them into the property
In the past, František Žalezák and conservationists clashed over a proposal to register the wetland at Klinov Bauda as an ecologically important site. The KRNAP administration insisted on banning grazing and fertilization to avoid damaging the wetlands. Zálešák does not allow administrative staff on farmland.
“In this case, it was also state land under the jurisdiction of the KRNAP administration, which was part of the terminated lease agreement. This prevented the operation of the Nature Conservation Commission,” argued spokesman Radek Tranny in 2021.
According to Zálešák, there were reports in response to the black trash of plastic, batteries and construction materials near the Kantorka shed, which he tried to draw attention to and remove. Because of this, he filed a criminal complaint and complaints with the Czech Environmental Inspectorate.
He drew the attention of conservationists and politicians to the illegal landscape. Without an answer. “I wanted them to clean it up because it has no business here. Everyone made promises and swept it under the carpet. There is no desire to clear the landfill,” said MF DNES in 2021. František Zálešák has been living in Klínový bouda since 2017. He is doing agriculture. He has established a mountain farm at an altitude of about 1,200 meters and raises cattle in the grasslands.
