Vasiľ Biľak
Vasil Biľak | |
---|---|
Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia | |
In office November 1968 – 12 December 1989 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Bátorhegy, Sáros County, Kingdom of Hungary (now Krajná Bystrá, Slovakia) | 11 August 1917
Died | 6 February 2014 Bratislava, Slovakia | (aged 96)
Nationality | Czechoslovak, Slovak |
Profession | Tailor, politician |
RSDr. Vasiľ Biľak (11 August 1917 – 6 February 2014) was a Slovak
Vasiľ Biľak was born in
In 1968 he belonged to the exponents of the hardline wing in the KSČ; he supported the Soviet invasion and participated in the so-called "normalisation process" after the political liberalization called the Prague Spring.
He was one of the politicians who signed the invitation letter for the armies of Warsaw Pact countries.[1] In December 1989, he was suspended from the KSČ. The Slovak Justice Minister Ján Čarnogurský said in 2001 he would not ask the Slovak President Rudolf Schuster to grant an amnesty to Biľak, the Czechoslovak Communist Party ideologist was charged with treason in connection with the "invitation" sent to Warsaw Pact countries to extend "brotherly help" to Czechoslovakia in 1968. In 2011, the trial process with Biľak ended unsuccessfully, when the attorney stopped it for lack of witnesses.[2]
He died in 2014, aged 96, in
References
- ^ Kieran Williams, "The Prague Spring and its aftermath: Czechoslovak politics 1968-1970", (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).
- ^ "Biľaka už súd nevypočuje".
- ^ Paterson, Tony (17 February 2014). "Hard-line Czech communist Vasil Bilak dies: Last surviving 'tankie' who supported 1968 invasion of his own country by Soviet Union passes away at 96". www.independent.co.uk. The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-08-11. Retrieved 11 August 2020.