Jan Petránek

Jan Petránek (December 28, 1931 – November 10, 2018) was a Czech journalist, commentator and dissident during Czechoslovakia's communist era. He was a signatory of Charter 77.[1][2]

Jan Petránek in 2013

Petránek was a journalist for Czech Radio, the public radio broadcaster, at the time of the Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.[2] He was fired by Czech Radio's management shortly after the invasion, but resumed underground, independent broadcasts during the country's Normalization period.[1][2]

In the late 1980s, Petránek also became involved with the samizdat publication of the Lidové noviny newspaper, which had been banned by the Communist government since the 1950s.[2]

Petránek became the editor of the Lidové noviny once the newspaper was legalized following the Velvet Revolution.[2] He was also rehired by Czech Radio after the fall of communism in 1989.[1]

In 2015, Czech Republic President Miloš Zeman awarded Petránek the Medal of Merit.[1]

Petránek died in Prague, Czech Republic, on November 10, 2018, at the age of 86.[2]

References
  1. Lazarová, Daniela (2018-11-11). "Czech Radio journalist Jan Petránek dies at 86". Radio Prague. Archived from the original on 2018-12-03. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  2. "Journalist and commentator Jan Petránek dead at 86". Prague Daily Monitor. 2018-11-12. Archived from the original on 2018-11-16. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
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