World personalities back renaming Prague Airport after Havel

Prague, Feb 15 (CTK) - The proposal that Prague's Ruzyne international airport be called after the late Vaclav Havel, Czechoslovak and later Czech president (1989-2003), has been supported by many foreign personalities on the Internet, Fero Fenic told CTK yesterday.

Fenic, a film director and producer, who launched the petition, said it has been signed by more than 80,000 people, including famous Polish director Andrzej Wajda, members of the British group Monty Python and Armenia Oliveira, a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Havel, a former dissident and playwright, died last December aged 75.

The call signatories say Havel deserves an honour that will not be a mere formal recognition, but a concrete reflection of his struggle for freedom.

"The hesitation of the Czech government surprises many prominent world personalities , therefore they are signing the English version of the petition," Fenic said.

The signatories come from Australia, Austria, Britain, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United States and other countries.

They also include Bill Shipsey, founder of the Art for Amnesty artists' association in support of human rights, Swiss auronaut and adventurer Bertrand Piccard and New Zealandese mountaineer Mark Inglis, the first person with amputated legs to climb up the Mount Everest.

Transport Minister Pavel Dobes gained the consent to rename the airport after Vaclav Havel from his widow, Dagmar Havlova, in the latter half of January.

The government has adjourned the debate on the change of Ruzyne's name until the spring. Finance Minister said it woould cost ten to 15 million crowns.

The Letiste Praha state joint-stock company had a trade mark with Havel's name in both Czech and English registered at the end of last year already.

The idea to call the airport after Havel also has its opponents, however.

Havel's former personal secretary Vladimir Hanzel said Havel did not like flying and that the airport is a matter of commerce.