World press freedom hero and co-founder of Velvet Revolution newspaper “Lidové Noviny” (People’s News) Jiri Dienstbier died of natural causes on Saturday at the age of 73.
From 1969 until the end of Communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989, he was one of the major intellectuals associated with the dissident group Charter 77, a political and cultural movement which denounced human rights violations in the country and helped Western media to report regularly on the dramatic situation there, tearing down the veil of censorship.
“We deeply regret the loss of this true champion of press freedom, who was always oblivious to his own personal safety and comfort,” said IPI Acting Director Alison Bethel McKenzie. “His energy, dedication and integrity will be sorely missed by us all.”
IPI Vice Chairman and Slovakian Board Member Pavol Mudry said: “He was not only a good man, journalist and politician, but especially a good friend and media freedom defender. We in IPI will not forget him.”
In 2000, IPI honoured Dienstbier as a World Press Freedom Hero. “He was one of those courageous men and women who made a significant contribution to the defense and promotion of press freedom in their country or region,” Bethel McKenzie said.
Speaking about the importance of underground, or samizdat, journals in Czechoslovakia at the 39th IPI General Assembly in Bordeaux, France, in 1990, Dienstbier said: “The influence of samizdat newspapers in Czechoslovakia was strengthened by cooperation with the world media and international press organizations. Without this understanding from members of the international community, we could never have succeeded.”
Before the Soviet invasion of the country in August 1968, Dienstbier was a prominent foreign policy commentator for Czechoslovak Broadcasting. He travelled to the Far East, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. In 1969, with the Communist regime taking control over media in Czechoslovakia, Dienstbier was expelled from the Journalists’ Union and dismissed from broadcasting soon after. Ten years later, as a member of the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted (VONS), Dienstbier was arrested and imprisoned for three years along with Václav Havel and other VONS members.
In November 1989, when Czech opposition groups led by the Charter 77 movement formed a pro-democracy coalition called the Civic Forum, Dienstbier acted as the first spokesman of its coordinating center. Following mass demonstrations for greater freedom during the Velvet Revolution, the Communist government stepped down and the new government began negotiating with the Civic Forum. In December Václav Havel, the Charter 77 leader, was elected the first non-Communist head of state since 1948. Dienstbier was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs on 10 December, 1989, and acted as both Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia until 1992.
He continued to be involved in the field of freedom of expression and information as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
