Dissident voices again

Back on Feb. 26 I wrote about the controlled collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. I presented testimony from Polish, Czech and Romanian sources about the ongoing communist domination of state institutions in those countries.

Further testimony is now emerging from the Czech Republic where dissidents are jailed and legal rights ignored. The supposedly extinct communist secret police, now operating underground, are effectively blocking the investigation of links between Vaclav Havel's regime and secret communist structures specifically created to dominate the country's government and economy during the current period of false democracy.

In a letter to the American Bar Association, former political prisoner and leading dissident Petr Cibulka explained why it was inappropriate for Czech President Vaclav Havel to receive the 2001 CEELI Award at the ABA's annual meeting in Chicago on Aug. 4. "This news has reached us," wrote Cibulka, "right at the moment when all just people in our country must face the fact that today's regime creates new political prisoners."

Cibulka then described the arrest and imprisonment of Vladimir Hucin, a former captain in Czech intelligence who worked to expose the machinations of left-wing hardliners. "The truth is," Cibulka wrote to the ABA, "the militant Communist Party, led by high-ranking officials of the former regime, openly proclaims intentions to reinstate this oppressive system in our
country – even by force."

When Vladimir Hucin threatened to expose hidden communist structures and plans for a return to totalitarian methods, these same hidden structures moved against him. "Vladimir Hucin was suddenly dismissed from his position," wrote Cibulka to the ABA, "and so were some of his colleagues, without ever being told the true reasons."

Hucin was imprisoned, charged with 12 criminal offenses and held for several months. "The latest news in his case," explained Cibulka, "is that the state prosecutor has made a request to the court in order to obtain an approval for Hucin to undergo psychiatric tests."

It appears that the communists behind the Havel regime want the names of Hucin's informants. They want to know who compromised a clandestine operation that uses Havel's face as a political front. In spite of the official dissolution of the communist secret police (STB), the tentacles of
this organization remain at work. According to the careful research of Mr. Cibulka, leading STB agents now control the Czech state administration, banking and the national economy. Secret structures, formed and directed by the Ministry of Interior, preserve communist control beneath a
democratic-capitalist facade.

"We are sure of the fact that Hucin's case calls for prompt international intervention," wrote Cibulka, calling for a commission to look into the situation. "Neither burden of proving a criminal charge, nor presumption of innocence were respected in the Hucin case. We are very worried about Hucin's health and life as such, because there have been many cases of applying drugs in order to get people to talk."

The communists in the Czech Republic will not tolerate the exposure of their apparatus. "The state administration and police forces," wrote Cibulka, "penetrated with communists and STB agents, are doing everything possible to keep Hucin's case out of the public eye and beyond the reach of international security authorities."

Cibulka also presented the ABA with an interesting statistic. In the Czech Republic, 98 percent of those accused by the police are sentenced and punished. "What is your opinion of this?" asked the Czech dissident, who is also the leader of a non-parliamentary political party called "Right Bloc."

"Almost all of the Czech people were disappointed," continued Cibulka, "with the unbelievable reality that the former communist system was not properly dealt with, that the communist STB officials in the state administration, justice system, police, etc. were not replaced by trustworthy
professionals."

Czech democracy is a simulacrum organized by the communists for strategic purposes. It is no small accomplishment, to be sure, that the Czech Republic has succeeded in joining the NATO alliance. Czech communist structures, secretly allied with Moscow, now penetrate the West's main
military organization. "For someone on the outside," wrote Cibulka to the ABA, "it all may look almost perfect, democratic. But it is not a secret anymore that repressions have been occurring for some time against freelance newspapermen and those in public service who have dared to raise their voices in criticism."

Readers are encouraged to review additional testimony on this subject, including Jan Malina's appeal to President Bush and Ross Hedvicek's letter to the ABA. Czech dissidents have written to the U.S. Ambassador, the American Bar Association and President Bush. So far their plea for support and assistance has gone unanswered.