Mašín brothers will not attend Milan Paumer funeral

The Mašín brothers will not be attending the funeral of their partner Milan Paumer, who participated in their violent escape from communist Czechoslovakia in 1953. Ctirad Mašín told the daily Mladá fronta Dnes that neither he nor his brother would return to their homeland as long as they risked a negative reception. Though honoured as heroes by the Czech prime minister in 2008, the three anti-communist partisans are still considered criminals by many, as they killed six people during their flight to West Berlin. Neither the Czech president Václav Klaus nor his predecessor Václav Havel will be attending the funeral. Prime Minister Petr Nečas however said that he would be in attendance if work allowed, and called Milan Paumer a brave man and a symbol of the communist resistance. Milan Paumer died last Thursday at the age of 79.