21 February 1989

ABSTRACT: In his reply to the indictment of the Tribunal of Prague, Vaclav Havel defends the movement "Charta 77", thus proving its legal and non-violent character. An invitation to dialogue addressed to the authorities.

(Radical News n.55 of 13 March 1989)

Madam Justice, for that which concerns the different arguments of the indictment, I have sufficiently expressed my reasons during the questioning and the trial; to avoid repetitions, I will resume my position.

I believe the attempt to prove that I was guilty of incitement and of hindrance to a public official has not succeeded. I therefore consider myself innocent, and ask for my liberation. Nonetheless, to finish, I would like to illustrate one aspect of the whole of this case which has not been mentioned.

According to my indictment, I have attempted to conceal the true anti-national and anti-socialist character of the meeting that was in preparation. According to this statement, which is not and cannot be supported by any concrete evidence, my behaviour was given a political aim. This authorizes me to evoke the political aspects of this case.

I must first of all object that the terms "anti-national" and "anti-socialist" have long since lost any semantic meaning, during the long years in which they were pronounced, and have ended by becoming a slanderous label given to all citizens who for one reason or the other disturbed the authority, that is, terms that bear no relation to political opinions. Three general secretaries of the Czechoslovakian Communist Party - Slansky, Husak and Dubcek - have personally suffered this destiny, in one moment or the other of their career! Today these labels are given to Charta 77 and to other independent initiatives, for the sole reason that their activity disturbs the Government, which thus tries to discredit them. It is a fact that this sort of purely verbal political slanders have been included also in my indictment.

What is the exact political meaning of what we are doing? Charta 77 was born and exists as an informal grouping, the members of which try to follow the way in which human rights, international conventions and possibly even the Czechoslovakian Constitution are respected in our country. For twelve years, Charta 77 has been drawing the attention of the authorities on the serious contradictions between the commitments taken and the social practices. For twelve years it has been drawing the attention on the different unwholesome tendencies, that are symptoms of a crisis, on the cases of violation of constitutional rights, on injustice, on disorder, on the lack of competence. As I can verify every day, Charta 77 with its activity expresses the opinion of an important part of our society. For twelve years the authorities have been refusing to react to this initiative, except to persecute us and imprison us.

And, on the other hand, the authorities themselves acknowledge the existence of a series of problems which Charta 77 has been pointing to for years, and which, if we had been listened to, could have long since been solved.

Charta 77 has always stressed the non-violent and legal character of its action. In its programme there has never been the goal of provoking public disorders. I myself drew the attention on the fact that the degree of respect for non-conformist and critical citizens was the measure of the respect for public opinion in general. I have repeatedly said that a permanent absence of respect for peaceful demonstrations on the part of the public opinion could cause increasingly open and strong protests on the part of society. I repeatedly said that no one will benefit from the attitude of the Government, which waits for the day in which people will start to demonstrate and strike. And that all this could be avoided with a concrete dialogue and with the resolve to listen to critical voices as well. The considerations, the warnings on this evolution have been disregarded. Today the authorities are starting to reap the consequences of its proud attitude. I am about to make a confession: on Monday the 16th of February I

had the intention of leaving Venceslaw Square as soon as I had placed the flowers at the feet of Saint Venceslaw to honour the memory of Jan Palach. Finally I spent over an hour there because I could not believe my eyes: something was occurring which I could never had imagined. I was witnessing a completely useless intervention of the police against those who wanted, in silence and without a movement, wanted to place flowers beneath the statue. This intervention abruptly turned the people into a mass of demonstrators. I then realized that the civil dissatisfaction must have been deep indeed, to cause such a reaction. The indictment quotes my propositions to the address of the policemen, in which I defined the situation "serious". I had also said that it was more serious than they thought. On the 16th of January I suddenly understood that the situation was more serious than I myself thought.

As a citizen who hopes that our country will develop in peace, I am firmly convinced that the authorities will have much to learn from what happened, and will accept a dialogue in dignity with all the components of society, without attempting to exclude any of them by discrediting them as anti-socialists.

It is my firm opinion that the authority will cease behave toward independent initiatives like an ugly girl who smashes the mirror she believes responsible of her ugliness. For this reason, I hope I will not be condemned once more, in spite of the fact that I am innocent.

Havel's last words after the verdict

I do not feel guilty, therefore I have nothing to regret. I accept the verdict as a sacrifice for a just cause, a sacrifice which is not a sacrifice if compared to the absolute sacrifice of Jan Palach, whose anniversary we hope to commemorate.