Jicin, East Bohemia, Feb 23 (CTK) – Vaclav Sedivy, from a communist-persecuted family of a farmer from Chroustov, east Bohemia, has the right to rehabilitation though he was only six when the family was evicted from its home farm, his lawyer Lubomir Mueller told CTK on Tuesday, citing a fresh court verdict.
He said this is the first case of a Czech court granting moral satisfaction to a damaged person who was only six when afflicted by eviction.
“A moral rehabilitation implies the right to a [financial] compensation, which, however, has to be claimed separately,” Mueller said.
He said Sedivy’s compensation claim will be dealt with by the Justice Ministry. For now it is not clear how high the compensation should be, he said.
The Sedivy family was forcibly moved out from their Chroustov farm on May 15, 1953 based on a decision by the district commission in charge of “settling the property situation” of rich farmers.
The property of the evicted rich families was usually confiscated by the communist state.
Similar commissions were comprised of four people including the former communist-dominated district authority chairman and the district prosecutor.
During the recent court proceedings, Sedivy thoroughly described the bullying and the tough conditions his family faced in the early 1950s.
“The judge…complied with the proposal [for Sedivy’s rehabilitation] and said the restriction of personal freedom includes not only imprisonment but also other forms such as unlawful internment in a psychiatric clinic or a forcible eviction from one’s home like in case of Vaclav Sedivy,” Mueller said.
The last surviving commission member is the former secretary of the Communist Party’s (KSC) district committee in Jicin. Some time ago, criminal prosecution was launched against him for abuse of power, but it has been suspended over his mental disorder.
