* Ladislav Lis; Former Czech Dissident

Ladislav Lis, 73, a human rights leader and former Czech dissident who spent several years in communist jails. Lis was a signatory of Charter 77, a human rights movement, and co-founded the Committee for the Defense of the Injustly Prosecuted. The latter group--outlawed at the time by the communist regime--was set up to oppose prosecution of anti-communist dissidents, including current Czech President Vaclav Havel. Lis spent several years in jail in the 1970s and 1980s. After the fall of the communist regime in 1989, Lis was elected a deputy in the then-Czechoslovakian parliament. He served as head of its military and security committee for two years. Last year, he was named chairman of the government’s Human Rights Board. On Saturday in Prague, Czech Republic.