Václav Benda Awards for services to freedom and democracy being presented Thursday

The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes will present the Václav Benda Award for services to freedom and democracy to 19 individuals on Thursday evening. Relatives will collect commemorative medals on behalf of recipients who are no longer alive. Among those receiving the prize are a number of people who actively opposed the Communist regime and the priest Josef Toufar, who died after being cruelly tortured into confessing being behind the reputed movement of a cross in a church. Václav Benda, who died in 1999, was a Charter 77 signatory and samizdat publisher. The awards are being given for the fourth time.

Author: Masha Volynsky