Jaromír Štětina (6 April 1943 – 17 April 2025) was a Czech journalist, writer and politician. He served as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

from 2014 to 2019 for the Czech Republic, representing

TOP 09 TOP 09 (, ) is a liberal-conservative list of political parties in the Czech Republic, political party in the Czech Republic, led by Markéta Adamová, Markéta Pekarová Adamová. 14 of its members sit in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Rep ...

. He was also known as a

war correspondent A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories first-hand from a war, war zone. War correspondence stands as one of journalism's most important and impactful forms. War correspondents operate in the most conflict-ridden parts of the wor ...

from the conflict areas of the former Soviet Union countries.

Biography

Štětina was born in Prague on 6 April 1943. From 1961 to 1967, he studied at the

Prague University of Economics and Business The Prague University of Economics and Business (PUEB) (originally: ''the University of Economics, Prague''; '', VŠE'') is an economics and business-oriented public university located in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the largest university in ...

. From 1965 until 1968, Štětina was a member of the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...

. In 1968, he started working as a journalist for the newspaper ''

Mladá fronta Dnes ''Mladá fronta Dnes'' (), also known as ''MF Dnes'' or simply ''Dnes'', is a daily newspaper based in the Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Euro ...

'', and his time there coincided with the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia, during which the Soviet army seized control of the newspaper's offices. Štětina was subsequently fired due to his disagreement with the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...

occupation. He subsequently worked as a geodesist, and while working, studied geology long-distance at

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

, during which he organised 25 geologic or sport tours to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

and Asia. During the same years, Štětina wrote his most famous book, ''S matyldou po Indu'', on the topic of rafting. In 1987, he started engaging in public speaking. In 1989, he co-founded a syndicate of journalists, ultimately resuming his work as a journalist, at the re-established ''

Lidové noviny ''Lidové noviny'' (''People's News'', or ''The People's Newspaper'', ) is a daily newspaper published in Prague, the Czech Republic. It is the oldest Czech daily still in print, and a newspaper of record. It is a national news daily covering po ...

''. In 1990 he began working as a foreign correspondent in Moscow, where he covered numerous conflicts in the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In 1992, he founded the Lidových novin foundation. During 1993–1994 he was editor-in-chief of Lidové noviny. In 1994, he founded the journalism agency ''Epicentrum'', dedicated to war reporting, with fellow journalist

Petra Procházková Petra Procházková (; born 20 October 1964 in Český Brod) is a Czechs, Czech journalist and humanitarian worker. She is best known as a war correspondent from conflict areas of the former Soviet Union. Procházková studied journalistics at C ...

. Štětina specialised in military conflicts, covering over 20 different conflict zones in Europe, Asia and Africa. He published 10 books, as well as dozens of documentaries, and many articles. Štětina died on 17 April 2025, at the age of 82.

Political career

In the 2004 elections to the

Czech Senate The Senate () 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 single-seat constituencies through the two-round system. If no ...

, Štětina ran as an independent candidate under the umbrella of the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

. He won the election, becoming the senator for the

Prague 10 Prague 10 is both a municipal and administrative district in Prague, Czech Republic with more than 110,000 inhabitants. Neighbourhood ( cadastral communities) of Prague 10 * Vršovice * large part of Strašnice (except the block with Tesla Stra� ...

district. From 2014 to 2019, Štětina served as a

representing

. On 11 February 2019, he founded his own political party, Europe Together (), to contest the 2019 European Parliament elections. He said that the party would join the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

if elected. Europe Together eventually finished 15th, with 0.59% of the vote, and did not win any seats. Štětina was a founding signatory of the

Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism The Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism was a declaration which was initiated by the Czech government and signed on 3 June 2008 by prominent European politicians, former political prisoners and historians, among them former ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stetina, Jaromir 1943 births 2025 deaths Politicians from Prague Members of the Senate of the Czech Republic Czech journalists Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) MEPs for the Czech Republic 2014–2019 Prague University of Economics and Business alumni Charles University alumni War correspondents Communist Party of Czechoslovakia members Green Party (Czech Republic) politicians