CCMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES h-MAN RIGHTS IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA: THE DOCUMENTS OF CHARTER '77 1977 - 1982 ).C. July, 1982 -I YAbLE OF U( 1 tNTS Page Foreword Dy iUante b. Fascell and Robert Jole ................ Acknowlecgements .................. ........................... 4 Introduction by H. Cordon Skilling .......................... 3 St(C1 IOiN l: Letters sent to the Lviadria Conference and to President husak .Tharter 77 letter to Or. zustav Husak, President of tne Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, September 17, 198U .... 10 Letter sent to Delegates of the tvaarid Conference by Vaciav benda, Jiri Dienstbier, ana Vaciav havei from their prison in Czechoslovakia, November 16G0. 14 Letter to CSCL Niadria Conference from Political Prisoners in miirov Prison, January i9&1 .l.. ....... ... 16 Letter from Charter 77 to Dr. (ustav husak, President of Czechoslovak Socialist tepubiic, February 22, 1Y)1 ..... 17 Letter to the tSCLr Macria Conference from VONS, the Czechoslovak League for human Rights, May 15, 1l98 ..... 15 S t('I iUN .11: oiunibered Documents Issued by Charter 77 Spokesmen ,i - What (harter 77 is and What it is iNot ..... 2 iiL - iKeport on uelivering the Text of Cnarter 77 to the Czecnoslovak Covernment ...... 26 if3 - rsdaress to the Presidium of the Federal Msserribly, the Government of the CSSR and Press Agencies ....... 2Y I#4 - luiscrimination in kaducation ......................... 31 I/6 - L.eport on tne Lbetention and Imprisonment of L-harter 77 Signatories .............................. 37 ,7 - 'Violations oI Social Rights in Czechoslovakia ....... ji it - i-'ree aomn ot Ke igion .7..... 57 iflu - Anaiysis oI Charter 77 Following Professor Patocka's ueath ..................................... bi Page li~ - MNemorandunm to the Federal Assembly - Emplpoyment (Synopsis) ......................... ...... 67. i1i2 - Discrirriination in Li terature .................. ...... ....71 *1 5 - i-naiysis of Czechoslovak Laws ................. ...... 74. 1l - Prison Conditions ............................. ...... .. ?8 //18 - Soviet Occupation of Czechoslovakia ........... ...... 135 ki5 - harassment of Charter 77 Signatories .......... ...... 137 i,21 - vi-ssion arid Activities of Charter 77 .......... ...... 142 *2z - Nuclear Energy in Czechoslovakia .............. ...... 14b 1/2 Situation - of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia .... ...... i)7 t 2 Freedom 4 - to -Iravel Abroaa ...................... ......... 171 lit6 - Thesis on Consumption ......................... .... .t.g.19b k uocurment Nos. 5, 8, 13, 14, 17, 20, 25, 27 and 28 are l ist ings of the signatories to the Charter.) SLC 1' e 1 1 l1: 1\urnoereo uocuments Issuea by charter 77 in 1982 2 Concerning it the Situation in Poland .............. .... 200 1t3 Five Years of Charter 77 ........................ ...... 2201 It4 Regarding the Inprisonment of Havel, ibenca, et. al. .................................. 208 it5 Day of Solidarity with Poland ................... 210 I/b On Price Increases ana other Economic Probiems . 2 i I il7 Letter to tne Congress o czechoslovak V riters . 21b 1 6 Appeal on Religious Liberty ..................... 2 I 9 9z1 11 Protest t-gainst Violations ot Religious Liberty z2i i/ 1 3 Upen Letter to Peace Movements in the Woria ..... it i4 i etter to Feueral Assembly and Supreme Court on the Penal Coae ............................... Page *i) - G-harter Disavowal of open Letter to trade Union Congress .................. .................... 234 *17 - on Terrorism ........ ................................ 23 1I18 - Letter to the Peace Movement in the German Dnmocratic Republic ....... 238 if19 - on the Implementation of the LDiscrirnination Convention No. Ill of the international Labor Organization ................... ..................... 239 (These documents have been chosen for inclusion because they deal with spec:iiic aspects of Czechoslovak and East European human rights p ract ices.) FUi<EWCVD The documents in this publication reflect the efforts of Czechoslovak citizens to express their opinions on issues of importance to them and on rights guaranteed to them under (Jzechoslovak law, the Helsinki Final Act, and other international agreements. In Principle VII of the helsinki Final Act, the participating States confirmed the "right of the individual to know and act upon his rights." They also agreed to "promote and encourage the effective exercise of civil, political, economic, social, cultural and other rights and freedoms all of which derive from the inherent dignity of the human person..." The signatories further pledged to "recognize and respect the freedom of the individual to profess and practice, alone or in community with others, religion or belief acting in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience." Sadly, these noble words ring hollow in Czechoslovakia, one of the 35 signatories to the Helsinki Final Act. In an effort to improve their country's adherence to the principles and spirit of the Helsinki document during the last five years,-over 1,000 czechoslovak citizens -- workers, scholars, clergymen, professionais, students, government employees, scientists and others -- have affixed their names to the manifesto of human rights known as Charter 77. Many have also worked actively with VANS -- the Committee for the D~efense of the Unjustly Persecuted -- to report and document violations of basic human freedoms. While in most signatory countries these efforts on behalf of human rights would be applauded and rewarded, in Czechoslovakia both signers of Charter 77 and members of VONS have fallen victim to unrelenting government repression. Charter 77 clearly emphasizes that its aim is not to change the existing sociai system, but simply to demonstrate the need for "observance of laws" -- both domestic and international -- by the Czechoslovak authorities. As an example of this comnitment to international law and other agreements, Charter 77 calied upon the Czechosiovak delegation to the Madrid Meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe to honor its word and implement all the provisions of the helsinki Final Act, including Principle ViI. The constant surveillance, house searches, detentions, arrests, beatings and terms of. imprisonment to which these courageous men and women are subjected are difficult to reconcile with the statements attesting to full implementation presented by the Czechoslovak delegations to both the belgrade and Madrid review meetings. 1 In October, i979, six Charter 77 signatories were sentenced to pr i son terms ranging I rorn two to five years for thei r activities. That travesty of justice was the culmination of a year-long crackdown on individuals who publicly sought to encourage their government's compliance with the standards set by Heisinki. Four of the six are still imprisoned: Vaclav havel ksentenced to 4 1/2 years); Petr Uhl t5 years); Vaclav Benda (4 years); and Jiri Dienstbier i3 vears). In iMiay of i981, the Czechoslovak government once again spread tear throughout the country with a wave of mass arrests and detentions of Charter 77 signatories and VONS memDers. Seven human rights activists -- Eva Kanturkova, Karel Kyncl, Jan Mvllynarik, Jan Rurnl, Jiri Rumi, Jirina Siklova and Milan Simnecka -- were arrested on charges of subversion and collusion with a foreign power and placed in pretrial detention where they remained for nearly a year. All were released by June, i982 although the charges against them have not been dropped. An additional ten were indicted on the same charges but were not detained beyond the original questioning period. They include jiri Hajek, Ivan havel, Olga Haviova, Karel Holomek, jozef Jablonicky, Zoenek iicinsky, fviojmir Klansky, Miroslav Kusy, jaroslav 1vMeznik and Jiri Muller. IThe Corrn-ission receives extensive documentation of events in Czechoslovakia from various sources. It is our intent to publi- cize the writings of Czechoslovak citizens that reach us in order to highlight the gross disparity between the actions of alleged "criminals" and the reaction of their government. Why citizens concerned with such issues as the safe operation of nuclear power plants, the inability to practice religion freely, discrimination in employment, inhumane prison conditions and the loss of social, political and economic rights, should be harassed, imprisoned or beaten to death is of deep concern to the United States and to others who believed the signing of the Helsinki Final Act would serve to guarantee the peaceful and lawful expression of views in the exercise of human rights. This compilation begins with a collection of five letters by Charter 77 and other human rights activists addressed to Or. Gustav husak, the President of Czechoslovakia and to the Madrid review conference. We have included these letters because they give a vivid, broad view of the extent ot human rights and other abuses currently taking place in Czechoslovakia and demonstrate the close links between the goals and purpose of the CSCE process and the activity of Charter 77. 2 The second section contains all of the numbered Charter documents dealing with aspects of the regimes' treatment of its own citizens issued from 1977-79. Not included are those which merely list new Charter signatories. After 1979, due to increased harassment by the regime, the Charter ceased to issue lengthy numbered documents but continued to release short bulletins and ietters on specific human rights-related issues. These bulletins are not included in this