PEN club criticises Klaus for disrespecting Havel

Prague, Feb 13 (CTK) - The Czech PEN Club has called on outgoing President Vaclav Klaus to refrain from attacking his predecessor Vaclav Havel and said it is a right of intellectuals to make use of polemic with ideas, but it should be done with respect and nobility, in a letter CTK has at its disposal

Klaus did not comment on the appeal. "I do not know of any, I would have to read it," he told CTK tonight.

"This letter has been incited by your radical deviation from the tone with which you expressed your respect and thanks shortly after he (Havel) left us," the letter says.

"We, citizens of this state, cannot be indifferent to Havel's successor in office inactively watching the dirtying of his memory, or even participating in it himself," the letter signed by dozens of personalities says.

Klaus, whose second and last five-year term expires on March 7, mentioned Havel (Czechoslovak and Czech president in 1989-2003) on various occasions of late.

In a recent interview for the Polish weekly Do Rzeczy, he called Havel an extreme leftist who was breaking down the existing human order.

Havel was also mentioned in a meeting between Klaus and Milos Zeman, who will replace him in the presidential post on March 8.

Klaus said no surprise is waiting for Zeman when he will be taking over the office while Klaus found tailor-made book shelves torn out from the walls.

It showed, however, that the book shelves were specially designed for Havel by his friend Borek Sipek and was his personal property.

Havel, former dissident and playwright, and Klaus were opinion opponents. When Havel died in 2011, Klaus praised Havel's significance, but later he again started to set himself apart from him.

Havel was a years-long member of the PPN Club and its honorary chairman.