The Supreme Court of the Czech Republic rejected the appeals on points of law of a firefighter and an official convicted over failings during the 2020 accident on the Bečva River and upheld their fines. It ruled in a closed session, court spokeswoman Gabriela Tomíčková said; the full reasoning is not yet available. The convicted may still lodge a complaint with the Constitutional Court [1][2].
The convictions
According to the final verdict, the firefighter breached his duties in directing the rescue work. He directed it on 20 September 2020 in Choryně and its surroundings in the Vsetín area, where anglers had spotted the first dead fish in the river. According to the judgment, through negligence he seriously breached the duty to protect the environment, to arrange an investigation and to take samples [1][2].
According to the same decision, the official is responsible for an unlawful administrative decision concerning the lagoons of the company Energoaqua. As a clerk in the environment and construction department in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, she permitted the company in 2018 to collect surface water in the lagoons instead of treated water from the treatment plant, so the lagoons could not stop insufficiently treated wastewater from escaping into the river [1][2].
Both received fines for obstructing the task of an official person. The Regional Court in Olomouc reduced the official's fine from 60,000 to 40,000 crowns because of a change in the legal classification, and upheld the firefighter's fine of 30,000 crowns [1][2].
The role of the company
According to another final decision of the Vsetín court, the poisoning of the Bečva was caused by the company Energoaqua from Rožnov pod Radhoštěm. It was not punished because, in the court's view, the specific culprit could not be identified and a legal entity is therefore not criminally liable. The Czech Environmental Inspectorate imposed a fine of five million crowns on it for discharging wastewater in breach of its permit, which the Ministry of the Environment upheld. The company denied guilt [1][2].
Cyanide contaminated the Bečva on the border of the Zlín Region and the Olomouc Region. It affected about 40 kilometres of the river and poisoned more than 40 tonnes of fish [1][2].
Sources
- ČTK / České noviny — 2 November 2026
- Novinky.cz — 2 November 2026