Central Europe,
January 31, 2001.
PRAGUE, Jan 31, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) The jailing for more than two
weeks of two Czech citizens in Cuba -- whom authorities have charged with
subversion -- is "a very serious issue", Czech President Vaclav Havel
said Tuesday.
In an interview with AFP, he said Prague was making "great efforts for
the speedy release of the two men," adding that a trip by Czech Senate
President Petr Pithart to Havana, had raised his hopes a little.
The invitation for Pithart to come to Cuba -- he arrived in Havana on Monday
-- was the "first sign that Cuba was ready to negotiate," Havel added.
Former Czech finance minister Ivan Pilip and Jan Bubenik, a student leader
during Prague's 1989 Velvet Revolution were arrested on January 12.
The Cuban government has charged the two Czechs with subversion, accusing
them of holding "meetings of a conspiratorial nature with members of
subversive Cuban groups" and of being US agents.
Havel himself recalled that in his own dissident past -- he was a hero
during the 1968 Prague Spring that the Soviet Union crushed -- he had been
accused of being an agent in the pay of the United States.
"For that reason, I am particularly sensitive to the accusations
against the two men."
"It is our obligation to be interested in human rights and civil
liberties everywhere in the world, and to be in solidarity with those persecuted
for their opinions," he added.
He also welcomed the international outcry against the arrests. "From my
own experience, I know the importance of international solidarity for an
imprisoned man."
The Communist authorities imprisoned Havel for five years during the 1970s
because he battled for human rights in then-Czechoslovakia.
Havel drafted large parts of Charter 77, the declaration which played a key
role in attracting international attention to the civil rights abuses in the
country, and eventually led to the downfall of the government in 1989. ((c) 2001
Agence France Presse)
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