Czech underground legend Ivan Martin Jirous dies at 67

One of the legends of the Czech underground, poet Ivan Martin Jirous known to his friends as Magor, has died at the age of 67. The author of numerous poetry collections (first published in samizdat in the 1970s and 1980s) Ivan Jirous is perhaps best-known as the artistic manager and spiritual leader of the underground rock band The Plastic People of the Universe. His battles with the communist regime resulted in eight and a half years behind bars. In 2006 he was awarded the Jaroslav Seifert Prize for literary achievement, among others for a 500-page collection of his letters from prison.