PM Topolánek to decorate exile anticommunist fighter

Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek decorated Josef and Ctirad Mašín, the controversial anti-communist resistance fighters, at the Czech embassy in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. The Mašín brothers, together with another young man Milan Paumer, formed a resistance group in communist Czechoslovakia in the early 1950s. During their escape to the West in 1953, they killed five police officers and a cashier. Mr Topolánek said that after he returns to Prague, he would present the same award to Mr Paumer as well.

The Mašín brothers, who live in the United States, and Mr Paumer have been repeatedly proposed for the highest Czech decorations but Czech politicians have been divided on the issue.

Communist Party leader Vojtěch Filip has condemned PM Topolánek’s initiative saying that the three fighters were murderers, and a lawsuit against Mr Topolánek was filed on Thursday for “approving murder and armed assault”.

Author: Jan Richter