Horáková execution lawyer to be freed

Ludmila Brožová-Polednová, the 88-year-old who was sentenced to six years in prison for her role in the 1950 trial and execution of democracy advocate Milada Horáková, may be released.

A court in Hradec Králové ruled Feb. 24 that three amnesties granted in 1953, 1955 and 1990 apply to Brožová-Polednová. Each would shave two years off her prison sentence. 

Brožová-Polednová was sentenced in November 2007 but had been unable to attend her own trial because of failing health. After a series of appeals, she began serving her sentence one year ago.

If the court ruling stands, Brožová-Polednová would have unnecessarily served 12 months in prison.

The office of President Václav Klaus came across the amnesty information while considering a presidential pardon for Brožová-Polednová.

"We brought this to the court's attention, and the court decided," Radim Ochvat, a presidential spokesman, told The Prague Post.

Horáková joined the underground resistance to the Nazis in 1939. She was eventually arrested and spent time in prison, including the Terezín concentration camp. After World War II, she served in Parliament until resigning following the communist takeover in 1948.

In 1949, she was arrested, and her politicized 1950 trial was broadcast on radio and television. Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill and Eleanor Roosevelt were among dignitaries who pleaded for the government to spare her life. Horáková was the first woman executed by the communist regime June 27, 1950. A major street in Prague 6 now bears her name, and June 27 has been a holiday commemorating victims of the communist regime since 2004.

Brožová-Polednová, then 28, served as one of five prosecutors in the Horáková case. She is the only participant from the 1950s communist show trials to ever face prosecution.

The State Attorney's Office opposes the court ruling in Hradec Králové and has asked the High Court in Prague to review the case.

"We have so far not received the case; therefore, I cannot say when the court will decide," said Jan Fořt, a Prague High Court spokesman.

For now, Brožová-Polednová remains in the Central Bohemian prison Světlá nad Sázavou. 

- Petr Cibulka Jr. contributed to this report.

Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at
bcunningham@praguepost.com