Communists prosecuted in the Czech Republic for the deaths on borders

More than 400 people were killed at the Czechoslovak borders with the West between 1948 and 1989.

The barbed wire used to be charged with lethal high voltage.The barbed wire used to be charged with lethal high voltage. (Source: Jana Liptáková)

Three high-ranking representatives of the communist regime in former Czechoslovakia will face prosecution for their crimes.

The prosecution was launched by the the Office for the Documentation and the Investigation of Crimes of Communism, which operates under the Czech police. It concerns the killings that happened between the 1970s and 1980s at the border with Austria, when people attempted to escape to the Western Block, the SITA newswire reported.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

The prosecuted officials include former general secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Miloš Jakeš, ex-PM Lubomír Štrougal and ex-interior minister Vrastislav Vajnar. All three are charged with abusing their power in connection with using guns against so-called border intruders.

The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.sk
Subscribe now for full access

I already have subscription - Sign in

Subscription provides you with:
  • Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk
  • Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail)
  • PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper, The Slovak Spectator, emailed directly to you
  • Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk

Top stories

News digest: Don't forget- clocks go forward on Sunday

More money from Brussels, US helicopters for Slovakia, and Bratislava airport's warning against fake websites.


7 h
Filip Toška holding chard in the hydroponic Hausnatura farm.

How a Mayan doomsday prophecy took a Slovak to hi-tech agriculture

Hydroponic farm run out of former telephone exchange.


9. mar
A Lutheran priest outside the Lutheran High School in Tisovec in 2007.

US teachers not rushing to teach English in Slovakia due to war

Dozens of Americans taught Slovak students in Tisovec in the past, but the local school is now struggling to find teachers from overseas.


21. mar
PM Eduard Heger announces his new political party, Demokrati, on March 7, 2023.

With his new party, Slovak PM embarks on a mission to unify

After two years as premier of an OĽaNO-led government, Eduard Heger is leaving the populist movement of Igor Matovič and hopes to establish a new political culture in Slovakia.


20. mar
SkryťClose ad