Court rehabilitates former dissident Jan Ruml

A Prague court has formally rehabilitated former dissident and a prominent Czech politician in the 1990s Jan Ruml, ruling that communist-era authorities unlawfully detained him on two occasions. Ruml spent more than ten months in custody in the early 1980s after being accused of subverting the republic over his role in organising a courier network linking Prague with a London-based exile publisher. He was also briefly detained in 1979 on suspicion of terrorism. The ruling is final. Ruml, a Charter 77 signatory who later served as interior minister and senator, is also entitled to financial compensation.