The World - News from March 22, 1989

A Czechoslovak appeals court cut a month from dissident Vaclav Havel’s nine-month jail sentence. Havel, 52, a co-founder of the Charter 77 human rights movement, was arrested Jan. 16 when he sought to mark the 20th anniversary of a student’s suicide-protest against the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. The appeals court, while confirming Havel’s Feb. 21 conviction on an incitement charge, also ordered him transferred to a prison with less harsh conditions than those normally ordered for repeat offenders. About 200 of Havel’s supporters paraded outside the courtroom calling for his freedom. Havel called the sentence “an act of revenge for my opinions.”