Rudolf Battěk (2 November 1924 – 17 March 2013) was a Czech sociologist,

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, and political dissident during

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

Communist era.

Biography

Battěk co-founded the Club of Committed Non-Party Members (KAN) in 1968, which promoted human rights. KAN was banned by the Soviet Union following the

Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...

later in 1968. Battěk was arrested and imprisoned on two occasions for activities against the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. He spent ten years imprisoned by Communist authorities during the 1970s and 1980s. Battěk was a signatory of Charter 77, which criticized the Communist regime for rejecting

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

. He also joined the Committee for the Defence of the Unjustly Prosecuted. In 1989, Battěk re-entered politics following the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

. He joined the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), but was expelled from the party in June 1990. Battěk became a member of the Association of Social Democrats after his expulsion from the ČSSD. In 1993, the leadership of the ČSSD reversed its original decision to expel Battěk and invited him to rejoin the ČSSD. Battěk declined the offer to rejoin the ČSSD, choosing to remain a member of the Association of Social Democrats. In 1996, Battěk ran as a candidate for the

Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic The Senate (), literally "Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic", is the upper house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The seat of the Senate is Wallenstein Palace in Prague. Structure The Senate has 81 members, chosen in s ...

as an independent from ward 8 in Prague, but lost the election. In 1997, he was awarded the

Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk The Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk ( cz, Řád Tomáše Garrigua Masaryka) is an Order of the Czech Republic and the former Czechoslovakia. It was established in 1990 after the Velvet Revolution, and re-established in 1994 (following the diss ...

President of the Czech Republic The president of the Czech Republic is the head of state of the Czech Republic and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic. The president mostly has ceremonial powers as the day-to-day business of the executive governm ...

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then as ...

. Rudolf Battěk died on 17 March 2013, at the age of 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battek, Rudolf 1924 births 2013 deaths Charter 77 signatories Czech philosophers Czech sociologists Czech anti-communists Czech Social Democratic Party politicians Czechoslovak prisoners and detainees People of the Velvet Revolution Recipients of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Czechoslovak philosophers