Jiri Dienstbier

PRAGUE (AP) — Jiri Dienstbier, the reporter turned dissident who joined Vaclav Havel to help topple one of East Europe's most repressive regimes — and then served under Havel in Czechoslovakia's first post-communist government — died Saturday. He was 73.

News of his death was announced by Czech public television and his assistant, who said Dienstbier died in a Prague hospital. They did not specify the cause of death.

"A friend of mine for many years has died," Havel said in a poignant farewell statement. "We experienced so much together."

Dienstbier secured his place in history for his prominent role in the dissident movement led by Havel that agitated for observance of human rights during the dying years of communist power in Eastern Europe.

But before that, he was an eminent radio journalist in Czechoslovakia, the predecessor state to the present-day nations the Czech Republic and Slovakia — and afterward, under Havel as president, he played key government roles of foreign minister and one of the country's deputy prime ministers.

Photos of him and his German counterpart, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, symbolically cutting the barbed wire that separated Czechoslovakia and Germany during the Cold War, went around the world.

"Jiri Dienstbier played an important role in the history of Czech modern journalism, politics and opposition movements," said Havel.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg called his death "a great loss" and also touched on his different roles as "an excellent journalist and foreign minister." Dienstbier, who was a senator in the Czech upper house of parliament, joined Schwarzenberg to visit Czech troops in Afghanistan in November.

Born on April 20, 1937, Dienstbier became a member of the Communist Party in 1958 and worked as a foreign correspondent for Czechoslovak radio in several countries, including the United States, western Europe and Asia.

After the Soviet invasion crushed the liberal reforms of Alexander Dubcek in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and ended an era known as the Prague Spring, Dienstbier was fired from the party as a supporter of the liberalization efforts. He did a series of menial jobs, including stoking a boiler at a central heating plant serving residential buildings.

As pressure for reform gathered steam in the late 1980s, he was among the first to sign the Charter 77 human rights manifesto inspired by the dissident playwright, Havel.

At the forefront of confrontation with the authorities, the mustached, tousle-haired dissident with a penchant for a good yarn over a drink, was twice the Charter's spokesman — and was imprisoned from 1979 to 1982. Havel, who spent time in prison with him, remembered Dienstbier on Saturday for his unbending spirit.

"Even in the toughest moments, his good humor was a great encouragement for us all the time," said Havel.

Dienstbier was among 50 World Press Freedom Heroes honored by the International Press Institute at its World Congress in Boston in 2000.

From 1998-2001 he served as special rapporteur for the U.N. Human Rights Commission in former Yugoslavia.

As a visiting professor of foreign relations and politics, he lectured at a number of universities worldwide, including Claremont Graduate School in California, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Brown University (Rhode Island) and Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Dienstbier returned to Czech politics in 2008, when he became a lawmaker in the Czech Senate as an independent candidate with support of the leftist Social Democrats. His term was to expire in 2014.

He is survived by his wife, Jirina, and a son and two daughters.




Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press