Czech Activist Again Held, Emigres Say
- Share via
VIENNA — Czechoslovak police detained playwright and human rights activist Vaclav Havel in Bratislava over the weekend, his second period in detention in a week, emigre sources in Vienna said Monday.
They said that Havel, one of the original spokesmen of the Charter 77 human rights movement, was picked up shortly after arriving at the home of Miroslav Kusy, a former Communist Party ideologue, in Bratislava on Friday evening.
These two and another dissident, Tolmas Petrivy, were held for 48 hours and released Sunday. Kusy’s home was searched, the emigres said.
They said that police, who also detained Havel with two others at a house near Prague the previous weekend, appeared to be hunting for copies of a text to be issued by Charter 77 to mark the 17th anniversary this Wednesday of the 1968 Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.
More to Read
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.