Prague court orders animal rights group to publicly apologize to Albert

The Animal Defenders Association (Obraz) must apologize to supermarket chain Albert for parts of its campaign alleging poor conditions in chicken farming, the Prague Municipal Court ruled this week.

The association has called for negotiations with Albert and announced a protest on Prague’s Wenceslas Square on Wednesday.

The court determined that Obraz’s claims, including that chickens were “deformed, burned, suffocating and sick” and that Albert was “profiting from enormous suffering," were unlawful. The group must remove those statements from videos, posters, leaflets, and its website, and publish an apology in the next three months.

“The court notes that it was not proven in the proceedings that the chicken meat sold by the plaintiff did not meet the legal requirements for health safety or came from farms that violated legal regulations,” judge Filip Liška said. “Furthermore, the plaintiff is not a poultry farmer and cannot influence the conditions of its farming,” he added.

Liška said the wording could have created an impression that Albert’s chicken meat was defective. However, the court ruled that Obraz does not have to withdraw its published farm footage.

“As for the published videos, the court believes that the defendant did not exceed the limits of freedom of expression,” Liška said. The group may also continue to parody the Albert trademark.

“The court made it clear today that one person's freedom of speech does not mean the freedom to insult another without limits. From this perspective, the client is satisfied because the lawsuit was upheld in essential points,” Albert’s lawyer Jan Krampera told reporters.

Obraz said it would appeal. “According to the court, the campaign was too harsh, but that is the harsh reality of those farms,” Czech Television quotes spokesman Pavel Buršík as saying. He urged Albert to follow its Dutch and Belgian branches in improving animal welfare.

Obraz lawyer Daniel Cao argued the ruling conflicts with case law. “In light of the Constitutional Court's case law, such a restriction on freedom of expression cannot stand. I am convinced that the appeals court will overturn this decision,” he said.

The organization is also calling on the public to sign a petition for Albert to stop its lawsuits, improve the lives of suffering chickens, and ensure an end to burns, deformation, and general cruelty.