Blitz on Czech dissidents

Press, 12 January 1977, Page 6

Blitz on Czech dissidents

NZPA Prague The Czechoslovak secret police yesterday arrested at least six dissidents, including a former Foreign Minister, Jiri Hajek, in strong action against the publication of a charter of human rights. Dissident sources say that a civil rights leader, Frantisek Kriegel, and a writer, Pavel Kohout, and his wife were also arrested. Kohout saw his wife being dragged into an official car shortly before his own arrest, according to the sources, who say that despite police harassment, civil liberties campaigners continue to solicit support for their Charter 77 human rights appeal among intellectuals and workers. Charter 77 is the strongest plea for civil liberties in Czechoslovakia since the liberal Communist Reform Movement, under the former party leader, Mr

Alexander Dubcek, was crushed by a Soviet-led military' invasion on August 21/1968. Two playwrights, Vaclav Havel and Ludrik Vaculik, were picked up at the same time as Hajek — Havel for the third time and Vaculik for the second since the Charter was published in West European newspapers on January 6. The three were among the 241 original signatories of the manifesto, which alleges that basic human rights guaranteed by the Helsinki Agreement do not exist in Czechoslovakia. Jan Patocka, another signatory, disappeared on his way to an appointment with a friend yesterday morning, and he is also believed to have been arrested. Havel was told by the authorities that he faces prosecution, but no specific charges were made.