Radek Koten (born 2 March 1965) is a Czech politician and businessman who serves an MP in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

for the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party. Koten was a soldier and a member of the Border Guard (''Pohraniční služba'') in the 1980s who were tasked with guarding

the Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

on the Czechoslovakian border. After the end of communism in the Czech Republic, he became a business owner and later the managing director of a wireless and cable networks laying company based in Prague. In the

2017 Czech legislative election Legislative elections were held in the Czech Republic on 20 and 21 October 2017. All 200 members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected and Andrej Babiš of ANO 2011, also the leader of the resultant government, became the Prime Minister. The ...

, Koten was elected to the

for the SPD on the

Vysočina Region The Vysočina Region (; cs, Kraj Vysočina "Highlands Region", , ) is an administrative unit ( cs, kraj) of the Czech Republic, located partly in the south-eastern part of the historical region of Bohemia and partly in the south-west of the hist ...

constituency list. After his election, he was nominated to serve on the parliamentary defense committee. This became a source of some controversy due to Koten's support for the Czech Republic leaving the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and because he was a member of various

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

groups that posted links to conspiracy theory websites. Koten denied that he had intentionally added himself to the groups.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koten, Radek 1965 births 20th-century Czech businesspeople Living people Czech eurosceptics 21st-century Czech businesspeople 21st-century Czech politicians Freedom and Direct Democracy MPs Members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic (2017–2021) Members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic (2021–2025)