Havel demystified

False Democracy

A Plea for Justice

J.R. Nyquist, www.JRNyquist.com

   The following is a letter sent from Ross Hedvicek, explaining the true state of human rights in the Czech Republic.  It is addressed to executives of the Central and East European Law Initiative at the American Bar Association.  For those who do not understand what KGB defector Golitsyn meant when he wrote of the false collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, this missive explains the most basic facts.  Americans should not be fooled by superficial reports.  Communism in the former Warsaw Pact countries remains entrenched behind a series of false fronts.  The persecution of dissidents continues. The foreign language text of the letter can be read below (Cesky preklad vyseuvedeneho textu).  -- JRN  [...]

I believe that giving president Havel any award for implementing democratic reforms is nothing but an unfortunate misunderstanding of the facts from his country.

Please give me a few minutes to present you with a different view of this alleged herald of democracy and consider some other information that is probably brand new to you.

President Havel was brought into his position, in then-Czechoslovakia, under unclear circumstances during the last days of 1989 (a few weeks after the so-called Velvet Revolution). He was never elected as president, but was nominated to his presidential position by people he supposedly helped to overthrow and was confirmed in his chair by the Czechoslovakian parliament (consisting, again, exclusively of communists -- and not a single democratically elected deputy) who themselves, after confirming Havel, were summarily dismissed from their posts with fat pensions.

As you may recall, Czechoslovakia before 1990 was a communist dictatorship on par with North Korea or Nazi Germany, having nothing to do with democracy. However, after Vaclav Havel was so conveniently brought to the presidential chair by the communist themselves, none of the countless crimes committed by the communists during the previous years were investigated, prosecuted or punished. President Vaclav Havel, not surprisingly, has seen to it. He can be held solely responsible for the fact that none of the previous communist ruler's crimes, including close to 300 political murders and tens of thousands who died in communist prisons, were ever punished. He became a guarantor to past tyrants, that they never will be held responsible for their murders and crimes against humanity, and he was instrumental in installing former communists back into government positions. Havel's former crony, then Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus (now chairman of Czech parliament), took care of keeping former communists in positions of power in the economic sphere. All this under the watchful Havel's "democratic eye."

In the first few years of his presidency, Vaclav Havel distinguished himself by a rampant abuse of his presidential privilege by using clemency (or "presidential pardons").  In comparison with his, even Clinton's pardons look absolutely justified and as straight as an arrow. He customarily pardoned convicted murderers if they were children of his friends or celebrity sports figures. On several occasions he issued a "pardon" so quickly that the person was not yet charged with a crime and already was pardoned (in this specific case he pardoned people who physically attacked his political opponents). 
 
During the re-election (in the Czech republic the president is elected by a vote in a parliament, not by popular vote) it was clear that he would be one one short, so Havel, or his cronies, arrested one opposing parliamentarian and held him in prison until the voting was over. Havel won the presidency by one vote.  Of course, Havel lacks any regard or respect for democratic traditions or principles, but CEELI does not know about that. In fact,  David Tolbert, the executive director of CEELI is quoted in a press release as saying, "I can think of no better individual for the CEELI Rule of Law Award".   

Please!!!!

Havel's presidential style is closer to the style of Ferdinand Marcos or Manuel Noriega than to any truly democratic president (including, but not limited to, his flashy trophy wife and jet-setting life style, offensive to millions of his not-so-affluent citizens). He is fully responsible for keeping a level of democracy in Czechoslovakia and subsequently in the Czech Republic at an unnaturally low level.

I could continue describing various examples of anything, but not "Rule Of Law" in Havel's Czech Republic.  In order to be brief let me mention just one very fresh example -- the case of Vladimir Hucin, currently imprisoned in Prague. Vladimir Hucin was an anti-communist dissident before the Velvet Revolution, serving several years in a communist prison. After 1990 he was nominated by the Czech Federation of Political Prisoners to work in the BIS agency (a Czech equivalent of FBI). He was working there for 9 years. Some time ago Mr. Hucin discovered some clandestine operations being prepared by former communists, with relations to former communists in the current  Czech government and the people under Havel's "protective hand".

So Mr. Hucin was immediately arrested and has been held in prison for more than a half of a year without being charged, tried or sentenced!  The newest development is that Havel's government plans to put him "under psychiatric care," which was known to be misused by the dictators of Eastern Europe for decades. Their plan is to "treat him" (which most probably means to drug him senseless and incapacitate him indefinitely). Does this look like "democratic" Vaclav Havel or "Rule Of Law" to you?

Vaclav Havel was asked several times to get involved in Hucin's case, but he refused with reasoning that it was not "fully investigated yet" (investigation is not continuing but Hucin is still held behind bars). This is the same Vaclav Havel who in the past granted pardons to people who were not even charged yet; the same Vaclav Havel who does not mind that the sadist/torturer communist Grebenicek is refusing to even show up at court because "he is old and it would upset him" and the son of the prominent Zelezny is refusing to start 5-years prison term for a rape (the poor rapist is "ill").  This all is just fine with Vaclav Havel, allegedly "one of the leading and moral voices in the world" (according to the CEELI press release).

I believe and suggest that you should look into the matters I outlined much deeper.  If for no other reason than just for the need to avoid any such future potential embarrassment to your esteemed association by aligning yourselves with unsavory personalities such as Czech President Vaclav Havel. I would like to stress that while the Clinton administration had a very forgiving attitude toward Vaclav Havel and his less than perfect tenure as a Czechoslovak/Czech president, the latest events are suggesting that the Bush administration, and especially Secretary of State Colin Powell's State Department, is taking a much harder look at the very high proliferation of former communists in the Czech government along with the frequent and blatant violations of human rights in Czech Republic (latest being the case of Mr. Hucin and the exodus of Romani minorities to UK and Canada) to which Vaclav Havel turns a blind eye.

I am assuming that once bestowed the award cannot be retracted.  So the damage was already done. So in such a case I am appealing to you to use your connections for investigating the poor human rights record of the Czech Republic and, unfortunately, it's unjustly awarded leader, Vaclav Havel.

I will be sending a copy of this letter to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission) of the U.S. Congress and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the U.S. Congress with the same recommendation so they use their resources and influence to look into human rights violations and the lack of justice and democracy in the Czech Republic under the presidency of Vaclav Havel. 

Havel deserves no award whatsoever! Let's make sure that east European kingpins like Vaclav Havel are not awarded, even by mistake, and that democracy and human rights in the Czech Republic are the rule, not the exception.
Thank you.
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Ross Hedvicek [...]

Textul original

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Communism is not dead! 

The Petr Cibulka interview...

Special thanks to Jeff Nyquist  (http://www.jrnyquist.com/), for kindly granting TLDM permission to reprint his informative interview with Petr Cibulka.

Introduction

In 1984 a KGB defector published a book under the title "New Lies for Old." It was a book that predicted, in amazing detail, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the "death of Communism." But this book warned that the whole thing would be an elaborate deception effected by secret Communist structures. False dissidents and false democratic fronts were decades in the making. Managed from behind the scenes by the KGB and other Communist organizations, none of these democratic fronts would be trustworthy. Democracy would appear to triumph in the Communist east, yet totalitarianism would remain. 

"The dialectic of this offensive," wrote KGB Major Anatoliy Golitsyn, "consists of a calculated shift from the old, discredited Soviet practice to a new, 'liberalized' model, with a social democratic facade, to realize the communist planners' strategy for establishing a United Europe." Golitsyn predicted that the Communists would launch "a variation of the 1968 Czechoslovakian 'democratization.' At a later phase," added Golitsyn, "they will shift to a variation of the Czechoslovakian takeover of 1948."

But instead of one country falling, all of Europe would be taken. It would be the ultimate reversal, accomplished by strategic deception and disinformation. Today, in 2002, nearly everyone accepts the changes the Communist Bloc as genuine. In fact, Golitsyn's predictions were ridiculed even as they were coming to pass. And now we look to the East and see the Czech Republic, a member of Nato, a member of the "democratic club." But something is wrong. We discover testimony that confirms Golitsyn's predictions. There are voices in the East -- voices that have been systematically ignored in the West -- that tell us of false democracy and hidden totalitarian structures. 

One such voice is Petr Cibulka, born in 1950 in the city of Brno, in the province of Moravia. As a five-time political prisoner, Mr. Cibulka did hard time in the toughest communist prison camp in Czechoslovakia. He was repeatedly jailed between 1979 and 1989 and conducted a 31-day  hunger strike in 1979. 

In 1991 Mr. Cibulka began publishing his paper, "Uncensored News," so he could oppose the "official" informational and ideological blockade organized by the Communists through control of the mass media. In 1992 Mr. Cibulka acquired and published data from secret police files. He published over 200,000 names of communist officers and collaborators. Subsequently he became a target of aggressive attacks from "former" Communist officials.

Mr. Cibulka had to go through countless police interrogations and home searches. He suffered numerous court trials because he named names. But he always won. The most famous trial involved Czech President Vaclav Havel, who publicly denounced Mr. Cibulka as a shameful disgrace and declared Petr's "Uncensored News" to be "garbage." 

Mr. Cibulka was elected chairman of the conservative political party Right Bloc in 2000. Right Bloc is trying to implement the principals of American democracy and freedom into the Czech political system. In 2002 Mr. Cibulka published his memoirs. -- JRN

Interview

JRN: Mr. Cibulka, here in America people are unaware of conditions in Central Europe. Perhaps you could explain what has happened since the so-called "collapse of communism." Is the Czech Republic a free country, and are the communists out of power?
Cibulka: Changes in Eastern Europe in 1988-89 were not anticommunist revolutions. In fact they were privatization coups organized by the reform wing of KGB-GRU. Everything of value in these Eastern Bloc countries ended up in communist KGB hands. Banks, companies and factories, mass media, land etc. Visible communist criminals used privatization to transfer all the previously state owned wealth into the hands of non-visible communist criminals working for the communist secret services, especially from the (still secret) military and civil espionage sections -- fighting to this day against the West and the United States of America. Structures and profiles of these sections have not been published to this day.

JRN: Why was Czechoslovakia broken up into two states? Was there some kind of tactical advantage in this for the communists? 
Cibulka: Slovakia is closer to Russia than the Czech Republic. Anticommunism and anti-Sovietism are much weaker in Slovakia. Moreover, the voters voted for Prime Minister Meciar to stay in power and he is openly pro-Russian. But most of all he is known -- and proved to be -- a former communist STB spy, codenamed "Doctor."

JRN: Do you think that secret communist structures, in control of the Czech state from behind the scenes, are working with Moscow? If so, what evidence do you have to make a case?
Cibulka: Absolutely! The people in power in the Czech Republic over the course of the last 12 years are connected to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, the communist secret services -- military and civil as well. Privatizations of the formerly state owned property and assets were organized solely by these people. That includes communists, secret service STB members, members of the communist army and communist SS "people's militia." In the 12 years since the so-called "Velvet Revolution" not one KGB-GRU spy has been apprehended, discovered or arrested. No communist criminals were sentenced to jail by the courts for crimes against the people of this country; to point up one example, the former communist prime minister, Lubomir Strougal, was acquitted of murder despite two victims attributable to him. This is a fresh example of the political disarray that exists in the Czech Republic under the "blind eye" of president Havel. He was the one that proposed judicial continuity with the previous communist regime and therefore the prosecution of Strougal as a criminal was therefore impossible -- legally! Hundreds of thousands of crimes committed by the communists over the years have not been punished to this day in the Czech Republic!

JRN: Do you think there is any danger of an open return to totalitarianism in your country?
Cibulka: Communists and their cronies can rule in Europe without a brutal totalitarian regime. Their new "humanist" totalitarianism is working in a satisfactory manner. It signifies a political system where people in power can never be defeated, it signifies a system founded on parliamentary democracy and crafty discriminatory election laws helping only the ones in power to stay in it as long as possible. This election system disqualifies the political competition -- with the help of financial and administrative obstacles. In other words, it effectively blocks all the political parties that would enter this closed circle from the outside and take power from those in government positions. 
The mass media and all political power are in the hands of communist mafia structures. These structures have the same monopoly in banking as they do in the economy as a whole. Most energy, communications and transportation companies are in the hands of the same old communists. Their power is therefore absolute, but a return to more traditional communist dictatorship is not imminent in my opinion as long as these people's hold on power is not endangered. 

JRN: Do you think the communists have the same goals (i.e., world revolution) as they had in the days of Lenin?
Cibulka: Yes! Using new tools with a new kind of propaganda, especially liberal and democratic slogans, the communists will attempt to build and strengthen a global atheistic and centralized oligarchy over mankind. They seek the kind of power over society that only God can have. The communists / liberals want to play God and replace him. Unfortunately, today's world is following their lead.

JRN: Are the other former Warsaw Pact countries similarly ensnared by old communist bureaucracies using new methods of manipulation and control?
Cibulka: Absolutely ! The situation in all Warsaw Pact countries is alike, so now we're fighting for Germany and Western Europe not to become the same as we are.

JRN: Do the hidden communist structures in the Czech Republic constitute a threat to Western Europe?
Cibulka: I'm afraid in Europe the communist and post-communist structures and their allies have already succeeded.

JRN: American taxpayers still believe that the Radio Free Europe is broadcasting in a fair and balanced manner and in the interest of the American people. What is your opinion about the program quality, objectivity and balance?
Cibulka: From my own experience I can confirm that RFE [Radio Free Europe] discriminates against the real opponents of communism and against open critics of those false "anti-communist" revolutions together with their chief representatives. Over the course of the last 12 years RFE has given us only representatives of the post-communist and leftists structures and those who thoughtlessly accept the so called "Velvet Revolution" as a genuine anti-communist revolution.
Differently thinking people are not given air time at RFE. Take my own case as an example. I am one of the most active opponents of communism in the country, and I am a five-time political prisoner that criticized and fought against the effort of the "revolutionaries" to help the communists stay in power and assure their immunity from prosecution for their crimes. I had my first and only chance to speak on RFE in the fall of 1999. I have not had another chance to speak since.  
In the Czech Republic I was the only one who published over 200,000 names of officers and informers of the communist political police STB, the names of the highest communist party members from 1945 till 1990 and the names of officers of the communist SS "peoples militia" from 1948 till 1990. Those files are available at http://www.cibulka.com/. Since 1991 I have been publishing Uncensored News. This newspaper is the only publication in the country that truly informs Czech citizens. But RFE never gave me a chance to speak about it. Furthermore, over the last 12 years all the ideas and values so essential to freedom and prosperity in the United States are systematically ignored by this so-called "Radio Free Europe," paid for by U.S. taxpayers.  
Even more upsetting, there is no information in the RFE broadcasts about the American practice of directly electing police chiefs, sheriffs, judges, prosecutors, presidents, governors, representatives, senators and all other important state and federal officials.  
We want to fight for and implement these American values, rights and freedoms for the good of our whole country. And we fight for these things with our political party -- known as Right Bloc -- in the upcoming elections.  

JRN: Best wishes and thank you, Mr. Petr Cibulka.  

Textul original

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Dissident voices again

Posted: August 23, 2001
1:00 am Eastern By J.R. Nyquist
© 2011 WND

Back on Feb. 26 I wrote about the controlled collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. I presented testimony from Polish, Czech and Romanian sources about the ongoing communist domination of state institutions in those countries. 

Further testimony is now emerging from the Czech Republic where dissidents are jailed and legal rights ignored. The supposedly extinct communist secret police, now operating underground, are effectively blocking the investigation of links between Vaclav Havel's regime and secret communist structures specifically created to dominate the country's government and economy during the current period of false democracy. 

In a letter to the American Bar Association, former political prisoner and leading dissident Petr Cibulka explained why it was inappropriate for Czech President Vaclav Havel to receive the 2001 CEELI Award at the ABA's annual meeting in Chicago on Aug. 4. "This news has reached us," wrote Cibulka, "right at the moment when all just people in our country must face the fact that today's regime creates new political prisoners." 

Cibulka then described the arrest and imprisonment of Vladimir Hucin, a former captain in Czech intelligence who worked to expose the machinations of left-wing hardliners. "The truth is," Cibulka wrote to the ABA, "the militant Communist Party, led by high-ranking officials of the former regime, openly proclaims intentions to reinstate this oppressive system in our country – even by force." 

When Vladimir Hucin threatened to expose hidden communist structures and plans for a return to totalitarian methods, these same hidden structures moved against him. "Vladimir Hucin was suddenly dismissed from his position," wrote Cibulka to the ABA, "and so were some of his colleagues, without ever being told the true reasons." 

Hucin was imprisoned, charged with 12 criminal offenses and held for several months. "The latest news in his case," explained Cibulka, "is that the state prosecutor has made a request to the court in order to obtain an approval for Hucin to undergo psychiatric tests." 

It appears that the communists behind the Havel regime want the names of Hucin's informants. They want to know who compromised a clandestine operation that uses Havel's face as a political front. In spite of the official dissolution of the communist secret police (STB), the tentacles of this organization remain at work. According to the careful research of Mr. Cibulka, leading STB agents now control the Czech state administration, banking and the national economy. Secret structures, formed and directed by the Ministry of Interior, preserve communist control beneath a democratic-capitalist facade. 

"We are sure of the fact that Hucin's case calls for prompt international intervention," wrote Cibulka, calling for a commission to look into the situation. "Neither burden of proving a criminal charge, nor presumption of innocence were respected in the Hucin case. We are very worried about Hucin's health and life as such, because there have been many cases of applying drugs in order to get people to talk." 

The communists in the Czech Republic will not tolerate the exposure of their apparatus. "The state administration and police forces," wrote Cibulka, "penetrated with communists and STB agents, are doing everything possible to keep Hucin's case out of the public eye and beyond the reach of international security authorities." 

Cibulka also presented the ABA with an interesting statistic. In the Czech Republic, 98 percent of those accused by the police are sentenced and punished. "What is your opinion of this?" asked the Czech dissident, who is also the leader of a non-parliamentary political party called "Right Bloc." 

"Almost all of the Czech people were disappointed," continued Cibulka, "with the unbelievable reality that the former communist system was not properly dealt with, that the communist STB officials in the state administration, justice system, police, etc. were not replaced by trustworthy professionals." 

Czech democracy is a simulacrum organized by the communists for strategic purposes. It is no small accomplishment, to be sure, that the Czech Republic has succeeded in joining the NATO alliance. Czech communist structures, secretly allied with Moscow, now penetrate the West's main military organization. "For someone on the outside," wrote Cibulka to the ABA, "it all may look almost perfect, democratic. But it is not a secret anymore that repressions have been occurring for some time against freelance newspapermen and those in public service who have dared to raise their voices in criticism." 

Readers are encouraged to review additional testimony on this subject, including Jan Malina's appeal to President Bush and Ross Hedvicek's letter to the ABA. Czech dissidents have written to the U.S. Ambassador, the American Bar Association and President Bush. So far their plea for support and assistance has gone unanswered.

Textul original 

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The Dolejsi Analysis (1991) 

Part Two of Four  

By Miroslav Dolejsi 

Translated by Jan Malina

 Part 2, The November 1989 Revolution

The Czechoslovak Parliamentary Investigative Committee's report on developments surrounding the November 17, 1989 Revolution was classified and not released to the public. The investigation resulted in the sentencing of a handful of insignificant police officers to a few months of jail time. The investigation focused on brutalities committed on National Boulevard [in Prague].  The investigators carefully avoided any mention of the political background of the revolution. The independent student investigative committee created in response to the manipulations of the parliament was sidestepped. [Note: The West understands the 1989 Revolution as an “anti-communist” revolt triggered by police brutality on November 17.] 

The aftermath of these developments was widespread doubt regarding the nonsense legend of the “Velvet Revolution.” This nonsense is still being preached by President Havel and by the Charter 77 government. President Havel did not fulfill his publicly given promise that all files about meetings between Havel’s group [Charter 77] and the communist government of Prime Minister Adamec, followed by meetings with “the decisive political powers,” would be published. In the time frame of a few months it became obvious that the brutal police response on National Boulevard was prepared in advance and was meant as a signal for starting the revolution.

After the signal was given the initiative passed to Charter 77. This indicates there was coordination between the communists and Charter 77 in preparing the revolutionary process. Immediately after the brutality occurred Charter 77 took matters into its own hands by spreading a rumor [later proved false] through student Drazska that student Smid was killed [by the police]. This inexplicable transfer of initiative is a political mystery. It suggests a point of connection between Charter 77 and a special faction of the Central Committee of the CzCP [Czechoslovak Communist Party]. 

Taking into consideration the doubts of the Czechoslovak people, the BBC shot a documentary about the November 17 episode in which the revolution was depicted as an unsuccessful Communist Party coup intended to remove Milos Jakes from the leadership, but the coup got out of hand. [Jakes was General Secretary of the CzCP at the time.] 

Guided by the light of this interpretation, founding Charter 77 member Jiri Ruml came up with a proposal to reinvestigate the November 17, 1989 events. This was problematic because Charter 77 insiders conducted the investigation and presented the BBC documentary’s interpretation of the “Velvet Revolution” as accurate. This version of events was politically acceptable because it effectively covered up any connection between Charter 77 and the communists. The Charter 77 elite could still be regarded as something it is not [i.e., a genuine anti-communist movement]. 

If the truth of about the November 1989 Revolution were known, Havel and his Charter 77 government would have to fall. That is not acceptable to the foreign [socialist] sponsors of Charter 77 who were building it up for 13 years and had no replacement organization acceptable to the Russians. The government of Havel’s Charter 77 had to be defended and preserved. 

From this analysis it is possible to present facts, putting them into chronological order, showing the following sequence: After President-elect George H.W. Bush’s advisor, John Whitehead, visited Eastern Europe in the fall of 1988, preparations for the changes were begun. In Czechoslovakia a directive was issued for Charter 77 to step out and create a number of independent groups called “independent actors.” These included: 

SPUSA [Society of Friends of USA]
HOS [Movement for Citizens Freedom]
DI [Democratic Initiative]
Revival of Socialism [union of former communists and secret police STB agents of 1968]
Czech Children [monarchists]
NMS [Independent Peace Alliance] and others. 

All these groups worked under the leadership of Charter 77. The objective was to create the impression of larger-scale anti-communist opposition even though it was a false impression but necessary for a propaganda campaign aimed at the West. [The Revival of Socialism group consisted of communists and STB agents from the Prague Spring era of 1968. These were supposed “liberal” communists like Dubcek and Cernik.] 

In the Central Committee of the CzCP there was a group set up (which included Urbanek and Mohorita) under the direction Hegenbart to handle meetings with the Revival of Socialism group. The objective was to coordinate the removal of CzCP Secretary General Milos Jakes, by compromising him and getting him out of the way. In his activities Hegenbart was under orders from the KGB. 

There was an amateur documentary film produced that compromised Jakes by showing him in his public appearance in West Bohemia. The KGB produced many copies of this film and sold it abroad. At the same time, Hegenbart was isolating Jakes, who was not briefed about these changes so any un-desirable response [from the communists] would've been eliminated at the beginning of the operation. 

Hegenbart was also the main person who in July and August of 1989 directed the communist government's position toward the exodus of East Germans from the West German Embassy in Prague to West Germany. In terms of co-operation between Hegenbart and the Revival of Socialism group, Jiri Hajek [Charter 77 founding member] traveled to Austria just before the revolution to discuss some last minute details about the date and form the revolution would take. [Jiri Hajek: Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party before WW2; he was involved in merging this party with communists after the 1948 communist coup.] 

The November 17th date was chosen as the most preferable because it was the International Day of Students and this would guarantee an international responses and, additionally, it was chosen because it was the last available such day with the possibility of an international response before the Bush-Gorbachev summit in Malta where the unification of Germany was on the table, requiring the input of the Czechoslovaks. 

The report published by the Independent Student Investigation Committee explains how the meeting of Prague's College Council [about the demonstration preparations] was manipulated regarding the participation of Vasil Mohorita. It is possible to add following to already known facts about the brutal attacks on National Boulevard: 

A) Approximately two hours before the protest demonstration of students, led by STB lieutenant Ludvik Zifcak (alias "student Ruzicka”), all public transportation in the vicinity of the protest was stopped in both directions. The Public transportation Company [state run] must have received an order to stop all traffic at least three hours earlier. At the same time National Boulevard was cleared [no public allowed]. 

B) Riot police were in position in Mikulasska and Konviktska [CZ police headquaters] streets three hours before the arrival of demonstration to National Boulevard. 

C) About an hour before the demonstration began, all buildings were locked up from Pernstyn to National Theatre, even though the demonstration wasn't supposed to go that way. 

D) Quick response police unit URNA [comparable to a SWAT team] was ordered to remain at alert level three [its members were at home with their families but had to be on call] and received an order at 10:30 AM to report to base; that is, four hours before the demonstration began. After they arrived to base they were ordered to standby. After the unit changed into camouflage battle uniforms they were ordered to wear red berets that are part of the dress uniform. At 11:30 the unit was transported to Bartolomejska Street station where the members were briefed [about the operation]. This briefing began at 01:45 PM and was conducted by three STB officers in civilian clothes, who also directed the unit's operational response in the vicinity of National Theatre – at the time when the demonstration began three kilometers away. This police intervention unit was briefed with large-scale pictures on the operational plan of closing down the National Theatre and the use of armored carriers with blades. This unit was instructed that STB officers would show them already marked people from the demonstration that the unit was to capture and arrest. The URNA unit is trained for quick response operations and not for ordinary public safety work. Colonel Becvar, who ordered this special unit into action during the demonstrations, had to know how this unit was to respond. He also had to know that using such unit for crowd control was unnecessary and not in accordance with law and the internal regulationsof the Czechoslovak Federal Interior Ministry. The URNA unit was only to be used at the times of public endangerment or against organized, armed resistance. Nothing of a kind was expected to happen on National Boulevard. Colonel Becvar was promoted to his post by Hegenbart himself, so it is possible that Becvar didn't issue the “illegal” order to use URNA on his own. Somewhere in this scandal lies the real reason Becvar shot himself. 

E) During the afternoon hours the entire leadership of Charter 77 left Prague including their families. The only people that remained in Prague were Uhl, Benda and Nemcova. Possibly there was a danger for them being arrested if Hegenbart was not able to paralyze all counter-measures of the leading members of the Central Committee of CzCP and the Federal Ministry of Interior – who had no knowledge of the operation and its true purpose. 

These Charter 77 leaders all returned to Prague on Saturday noon. During that time and throughout Sunday Hegenbart was once and for all able to remove the danger of a counter-stroke by the Communist Party Militia that was mobilized by Jakes. The operational objective of the November 17 provocation was not only to remove Jakes from power, but also to initiate a tactical retreat of the communists to prepared positions. This tactical retreat and its hidden mechanism was the subject of negotiations between [Moscow’s handpicked] communist leaders and the Revival Socialism group, beginning in January 1989. At that time Hegenbart began mobilizing actors, musicians and others to petition for the release of Havel from jail. All the initiators of the revolution were communists or agents of the secret police.

 

From the list of students who were active in preparing the protest demonstrations and who later assumed leadership in the student organizations, we find that they were solely the children of prominent parents. Eighty percent of these students had parents at senior levels of the CzCP, Federal Ministry of Interior, Foreign Ministry, or they were general directors in state-owned enterprises, college professors and so on. The slogans chosen for the protest were already inscribed in June 1989: “We are not like them,” “We don’t want any violence,” and variations on the theme. These slogans signaled that no violence would be used against the communists [a condition of the transfer of power] and further guarantees were supplied directly by the students and Civic Forum. 

Textul original 

Partea I

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Bolshevik Inquisition, Part 1

    Editor's note: Hana just sent word that Vladimir Hucin has been freed by the higher court and is out of prison. Details will be forthcoming. -- JRN

By Hana Catalanova

I am of the opinion that the public should be present at this hearing because it concerns a problem which might be described as 'the penetration of the state administration by communist structures,' which has been effected in a treacherous way. Under the present government of social democracy it is unbelievable, and it is extremely cunning. 

-- Vladimir Hucin

More than 12 years have passed since the "Velvet Revolution" took place in 1989 in the Czech republic, but very little has changed in the judicial system, and the same goes for the political scene. Lies, frauds, corruption and "former" communists and StB agents holding the highest positions in the Czech republic today are hardly noticed by the Western world; a world that was so enthusiastic over the make-believe fall of communism behind the Iron Curtain.

Unfortunately, the true face of this post-communist "democracy" should have been unveiled much earlier, in times when negotiations about the acceptance of a new partner into NATO were being held. There should have been in-depth checking up on the situation in the country, before the equal partnership in NATO was so generously given and additional economic advantages were offered. Yet another reason to condemn the Clinton Administration. It is not a secret that Clinton has a leftist orientation, and that during his studies he had a lot of friends in the former USSR and Czechoslovakia who he used to visit during the time of the Cold War while these countries were still ruled by a totalitarian regime, when all the power was held by communist hardliners. Clinton had many friends among communists (and still has). He identified himself with communist ideology and promoted it then.

The consequences of his administration are shocking – and we are not aware of everything yet! Let us hope president G. W. Bush will take all the steps necessary in making the USA the pillar of democracy and liberty again – the oasis of a dignified and prosperous life worth living, worth fighting for. It is our duty to fight for our freedoms, and to be very persistent in it. We all came into this world as free individuals, and nobody has the right to deprive us of a God-given gift.

We are witnesses of the fact that basic human rights are still being denied to some people in the Czech Republic, and not only here. The Constitution of the CR is still only a worthless set of articles – articles not intended to be respected.

We follow the Hucin case, which serves the "former" communists as a probe stone thrown to the public. This probe stone shows to what extent the public is prepared to accept the growing power of communist structures. These structures have never really given up power; they have been pulling the strings from behind. If these structures are allowed to win, more fabrications would follow – fabrications so well remembered from the past.
 
The whole case against Vladimir Hucin is based on  fabricated evidence where the principal and "concealed"  witness is one Josef Dvorak (according to earlier information, he is Jiri Metelka from Prerov, a close colleague of the former StB officer Ludvik Zifcak).

The premiere has not met the expectations of judge Michal Jelinek and 3 other judges in a panel, pretentiously called "the judicial panel." Prosecuting attorney Lenka Sromova read out 11 of the 28 pages of "criminal" charges, and in the end she made a request to exclude the public from further court hearings. She justified her request by mentioning the functions of BIS as classified and concealed issues.

The courtroom had the capacity to hold about 70 people. Some of them were lucky enough to be seated, the rest were standing near the back wall. Representatives of the major media were also present, and the whole course of the trial could be video/audio recorded.

After they heard the state prosecutor's request to exclude the public, most people loudly expressed their disagreement, and judge Jelinek threatened to clear the courtroom. Both defense lawyers (Milan Hulik and Stanislav Devaty) and the defendant (Vladimir Hucin) had an opportunity to express their views concerning the prosecutor´s request.

In relation to this another important fact ought to be mentioned. During more than 12 years of this so-called "democratic system," communist and StB criminals have been leaving the courtrooms with smiles on their faces, their self-confidence boosted. No custody, no jail sentences for torturing and persecuting innocent people – they are given suspended sentences at the very most. It seems almost unreal that the former Secretary of the Interior and later prime minister (for 20 years!) Lubomir Strougal, who was the head of the totalitarian regime in Czechoslovakia, and who more than willingly carried out orders coming from Moscow, was not held in custody or confinement, but was let at large to enjoy his fat retirement pension. This man left the courtroom with an arrogant smile on his face, acquitted of all charges! He was accompanied by his daughter (she is a judge by profession herself, so she approved the nice job done by her colleagues), and when leaving the courtroom, he said to the camera: Well, time to watch a good hockey match! 
 
Another hardliner, former StB officer Alois Grebenicek, who used electric shocks, as well as kicking and beating during interrogations, is still a free man – his process, thanks to the communist judges, drags on for several years already (since 1995!). His son Miroslav Grebenicek is the leader of the legal successor of KSC, KSCM (Communist party) – one of today´s legally accepted parliamentary political parties! (Communist party and communist ideology was lawfully condemned in 1993 as being criminal and evil.) Unreal, isn´t it?

But let us return to this courtroom comedy on 13th February 2002. Milan Hulik, one of the defense lawyers, raised 5 objections of the bias on Judge Michal Jelinek´s part. 

1) In the last resolution to continuance of remand, the judge presiding over the case (Jelinek) justified the continuance of remand with referral to a certain legal report on Hucin´s behavior made by police investigator (Stary), which was written after all investigational materials were disclosed to the accused and his defense lawyers. Neither the accused, nor his defense lawyers know such a document. It was not disclosed to them. The existence of such they learnt only from the already mentioned resolution. 

When a judge uses unknown documents to justify the necessary continuance of remand, he clearly indicates his bias.

2) The same judge presiding over the case answered a media question long before the trial, saying that when making decision concerning the continuance of remand, he would take the prior decision concerning the continuance of remand made by Regional Court (in other proceedings) into consideration.

Because a judge must not indicate his decisions in advance, this judge expressed his prejudice.

3) Many witnesses received summons for the hearing taking place tomorrow and the day after (14th and 15th February 2002) in courtroom number 3, which is the smallest courtroom within the building of the Prerov Court of Justice. It is very obvious then, that the matter of public exclusion has been decided upon well ahead of today's hearing – without even listening to the other parties' views. The first day (13th February) this trial began in the courtroom number 4, where part of the interested public and some media could have fitted in.

Because a judge must not prejudicate his decision, with the above instance he has again indicated his bias.

4) This judge accepted the indictment – that is to say – under circumstances where the report on the search of premises clearly shows this to be permitted solely in the residence of Vladimir Hucin.

According to the commentary on the law, residence means a dwelling, a premise where the respective person resides, lives. Such a dwelling is the apartment of V. Hucin in a family house in Prerov of which two thirds are owned by Hucin´s mother Anna Hucinova, and one third belongs to V. Hucin.

We are submitting the documents concerning the ownership titles to the court. According to the report on the search of premises, most of the things serving as evidence against our client, were found on the premises outside his dwelling, in other areas belonging to Mrs. Anna Hucinova, who didn't give any permission for the house search, and the investigative, prosecuting and adjudicating bodies didn't produce any other search warrant which would include these other premises in Anna Hucinova´s ownership.

According to §2 section 1 of the Criminal Procedure Act (Penal Code), nobody is to be prosecuted for illegitimate reasons or in a manner disallowed by this law. If the accusatory instrument contains evidence which the prosecutor based his case on, and such evidence was obtained contrary to the Penal Code, then such evidence cannot be used in a Court of Law, and the defending party makes a motion to eliminate such evidence from the file, and if this might be technically impossible then such evidence cannot be considered by the Court.

Additionally, I have to state that from the content of the file it is obvious that the interception (wiretap) was carried out on two phone lines. The judicial approval of interception of two lines (phone numbers 0641-250514 and 0641-250515) states that both numbers are registered in the name of Vladimir Hucin, which is contrary to the Telecom invoicing where each number is registered separately in the names of two users, Anna Hucinova and Vladimir Hucin. From the content of the file it is not apparent which calls were made from which line. It means that without the possibility to distinguish the above, the evidence was obtained contrary to law, and again, such evidence has to be withdrawn from from the file, or not be considered.

If the judge presiding over the case did not return the case -- with such unlawfully obtained evidence – during the preliminary hearing of the charges back to preliminary stage of proceedings, he expressed his prejudice again.

5) And finally, the defense justifies its plea on the bias of the judge with the fact that during the whole criminal procedure carried out by the investigative, prosecuting and adjudicating bodies so far, not a single motion made by the defending party has been sustained. In addition, vital evidence was rejected by the investigator during the file disclosure.

According to §2 section 5 of the Penal Code, the investigative, prosecuting and adjudicating bodies must very carefully consider all the circumstances weighing for and against the accused person. If not one motion made by the defense has been sustained, the fundamental principal of criminal procedure has probably been violated, and if the judge accepted the charges in advance, it indicates again his lack of objectivity and his bias.

According to law the accused can defend himself in any way he finds appropriate, and the means of defense cannot be used against him. I am referring to the document unknown to the defense lawyers as "the resolution in continuance of remand," when the accused supposedly committed something against the person of the investigator. If this actually happened as the prosecution states then they should have filed a charge against Hucin – for example, due to a verbal assault against the investigator. Under no circumstance may allegations serve the investigative, prosecuting and adjudicating bodies in making any conclusions about the guilt, or in deciding about the continuance of remand.

Under these circumstances the defense makes a motion to put the hearing into recess and to remand the whole case to the state prosecutor for additional investigation in compliance with §221 of the Penal Code, because a further hearing of this case would be contrary to the basic principles of criminal procedure – as stated before.

When asked if the bias of the judge concerns only the judge presiding over the case, both defense lawyers gave a positive answer. When asked for their views concerning the exclusion of the public, both said that they would accept the exclusion only on occasions when secret or classified facts are discussed.

When Vladimir Hucin was asked for his view on public exclusion, he took the opportunity to speak out – considering the public and media present – and tried to say more than Judge Jelinek was willing to hear. Therefore his speech was several times loudly and angrily interrupted by the judge.
Hucin said:

I am of the opinion that the public should be present at this hearing because it concerns a problem which might be described as 'the penetration of the state administration by communist structures,' which has been effected in a treacherous way. Under the present government of social democracy it is unbelievable, and it is extremely cunning. When we take into consideration, for example, this state prosecutor Sromova present here --

Hucin was loudly interrupted by the judge and could not finish his sentence. Hucin nevertheless attempted to continue:

In the interest of educational activity, I would like to point out, that with the public being present, people would have an opportunity to follow along. The materials which are called 'classified' are going to be officially made public and declassified, because these mostly refer to communist criminals who according to the Law on StB files must be exposed; and anyone interested will be able to look into these materials. Such 'classified and concealed' materials form a major part of this file.

And you too, as the judge presiding over the case – I understand that you are young and may not have the experience – but even you can look at the evidence and put it in context. There is, for example, evidence about practices dictated by the secretary of Prerov region, Mamula (a communist), who based everything on his own professional expertise. These practices were designed to determine who can work for them [the regional administration] and who cannot, what are the limits; what such a person is supposed to look like and which pattern is to be maintained.

According to additional information I have obtained from materials saved by me from the flames, when the StB and a criminal mob of People's Militia were burning vital evidence, ... I was trying to save some kind of legacy for this nation so people would know what it was all about, and I was uncovering the penetration of Charter 77 by StB agents.

Well, I will return to the issue at hand. My view is that significant findings should be publicized. People will then realize who is interested in concealing the facts. The penetration of communist criminals into the highest levels is evident, and will continue for some time yet. Of course, State Prosecutor Sromova is very much interested in excluding the public, so these facts won't see the light of day, because these facts threaten her position. She covers up for someone connected with the former chief of StB [communist secret police]. And she knows what she is doing! She includes this very person in the rehabilitation process among the political prisoners. This is unbelievable! So I am interested in an educational effect, and you and the panel of judges should consider the fact that the whole matter should be dealt with in full public view, with the media present if possible, and with all those who are interested in this thing.

So this is an introduction to my view. I only want to tell the court that I personally tried to carry out the proper security check on Sromova and found her unsuitable. The security check was later re-done under very suspicious circumstances, at a time when the communist prison warden, Comrade Jakubik, had many problems with his security check. He is now in the highest position [secretary of the police chief]. Everyone was surprised how fast her security check went through. It was done intentionally ... [interrupted by judge].  The public ought to know what is going on here. The security check on Sromova was intentional, it was done in exchange for her services in which Sromova filled the post of a walking legal stamp ... [interrupted again] ... as a so-called 'independent' person.

I want to add that during the house search with the assistance of various fast-deployment units, there was one policeman by the name Kominek present – as an independent person – who was kept in the corner, and when he wanted to look at something, he was arrogantly told to he ought to be glad to be there and not to stick his nose into anything. He should be called as a witness. 

When asked about the plea of the bias of the judge, Hucin declared that he fully identified himself with his lawyer's statement. He managed to add one more thing:

I am saying here that, in the course of this trial, it is going to be proved that the bomb attack – a terrorist attack – against the offices of a political prisoners' organization was intentional; it was directed from the highest ranks of the police in the state interest, and it was done for a reason: so the police could get into the offices of political prisoners and obtain materials and information there which couldn't be obtained any other way. This action was linked to the ultra-leftist organization of KSC which we have here in northern Moravia.

After deliberation the court panel rejected the pleas of the bias of the judge, and also rejected public attendance during further hearings. The defense raised the plea of bias against the whole court panel, and filed a complaint. This complaint is going to be handled by the Regional court in Ostrava. 

After this, the public and media were ordered to leave the courtroom, and judge Jelinek proceeded to question the accused. Hucin protested the public exclusion and declared that he no longer wanted to be present in the courtroom, and asked to be taken away. In reaction to this, both defense lawyers stated that they could not defend their client, because without having him present he would be denied an effective defense, and the whole hearing would take the form of an inquisition.

Under the circumstances the court panel adjourned the trial indefinitely.

Textul original

Partea 2 

Partea 3

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Sistemele de partide din Cehia, Slovacia şi Polonia 

eseu 

Klaus, Havel and the debate over civil society in the Czech Republic 

Klaus-Havel rivalry plays out on city streets