Daily: human rights court upholds Czech ruling on former Communist official

The Czech daily Lidové noviny has reported that the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled back in September that a Czech court’s sentencing of former Communist official Karel Hoffman, was just. Mr Hoffman, a former head of telecommunications in communist Czechoslovakia, ordered Czechoslovak Radio broadcasts off the air following the Soviet-led invasion of August 21st, 1968. Over 30 years later he was sentenced to four years in prison for his role in the invasion, but served just 25 days for health reasons. The European Court of Human Rights confirmed that the Czech Republic had not infringed on Mr Hoffmann’s freedoms; in response, the former Communist official criticised the court in November, calling it a “capitalist, bourgeois” entity.