Court rehabilitates Josef Toufar, priest tortured to death by communist secret police

The Regional Court in Hradec Králové on Thursday formally rehabilitated Josef Toufar, priest tortured to death by the communist secret police in 1950 for allegedly faking a “miracle”. The court ruled that Toufar’s arrest and prosecution were illegal, restoring his honour after decades. The move followed a petition filed by the regional prosecutor.

Toufar is one of the most prominent victims of the communist regime’s crackdown on the Church. He was arrested following the so-called "Číhošt' miracle," when witnesses claimed to have seen a cross on the altar in Toufar's church moving on its own volition during a mass in December 1949.

The initiator of Toufar's judicial rehabilitation was Jan Kratochvíl, founder of Brno's Museum of Czech and Slovak Exile of the 20th Century.