President Zeman awarded state decorations to 29 personalities on the
occasion of Czechoslovak Independence Day on Monday night. The
philosopher Erazim Kohák and playwright, actor and songwriter Jiří
Suchý received the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Mararyk; the Medal of Merit,
meanwhile, was awarded to opera singer Soňa Červená,
communist-era businessman František Čuba, actress Jiřina Bohdalová,
former athlete Jarmila Kratochvílová, and others. Several of the
recipients supported Mr Zeman in his presidential bid, or ran on the
ballot
of his party in the weekend’s elections. The awards ceremony was marked
by controversy as several dozen officials, including most university
rectors, boycotted the event over their disagreement with some of the
president’s recent decisions.