Esterback coerced dissidents into a foreign country, where they died. Years later, his agents were punished.

Journalist, columnist and author Jiří Lederer was one of the first signatories of Charter 77, which called for respect for human rights in Czechoslovakia. His Polish wife Elzbieta also signed the declaration. Before normalization of relations, Lederer participated in the revival process known as the Prague Spring, writing articles for Literární listý and Reporter.

After the Soviet occupation, the power of the communist state was concentrated in him and he was imprisoned three times on fabricated trials. He spent a total of five years in it. By order of the Minister of the Interior Jaromír Obzina, he found himself included in the list of Operation Asanace, within the framework of which the State Security Service was tasked with forcing selected opponents of the regime to emigrate through bullying.

Lederer had already decided to leave after his last imprisonment in 1980. However, the regime wanted to ensure that the dissident would indeed leave the country. This was the task of the influential Estebak Josef Nevečeřal, who at the time commanded the Fourth Department of the Counterintelligence Service to fight internal enemies. He did this without eating with his people.

Pretty obvious bullying

“From January 18, 1979 to June 30, 1980, he participated in the enactment of systematic pressure in the form of ‘preventive destructive measures’ against Jiří Lederer. Under the influence of these measures, the injured party moved to the Federal Republic of Germany together with his wife and daughter,” Judge Karel Steiner described the Never Diner’s crime at a basic level.

Esteban’s ranting words, quoted by the judge, concealed simple bullying. He didn’t eat while Lederer was in prison. He arranged for him to be severely punished. Nevecelar’s subordinates, who had already been freed, “ambushed” Lederer and his wife at a friend’s cabin in the Krkonoše Mountains in order to scare him and make him believe that they were watching his every move.

Lederer was almost penniless due to repeated imprisonment and the inability to find a job, on the contrary he was deeply in debt. They did not have dinner once, and thanks to a source they found out that the dissident wanted to work as a gravedigger in Prague. In turn, they prevented him from working in the Prague Cemetery Administration.

“The bullying against the victim and his family was very clear. The defendant committed this act against others because of his political beliefs and took advantage of their suffering,” said Judge Steiner. Nevečeral was punished for abusing his power as an official. He sentenced him to two and a half years in prison, suspended for three years. Both the plaintiff and Nevečeral will consider an appeal.

“I have not been charged with any crime”

He did not eat dinner, and his subordinates paid attention to details during the operation. Neither the dissident nor his wife had a driver’s license, and the authorities took them away on fictitious grounds. When the Estebians surprised them in the Giant Mountains, Lederer was anxious and afraid of further arrest, and they watched if they drove away from the place. In this case, they were ordered to confiscate their cars and pay the maximum fine.

During Lederer’s interrogation, the State Security Service also investigated the fear of dissidents against the woman. At the time, her residence permit was about to expire and the authorities deliberately delayed its renewal. Lederer was afraid that his wife would have to leave Czechoslovakia. Neveceřal commented on the form of the proceedings against him and recommended that they be approved.

Dissident and Chartist Jiří Lederer (left). | Photo: CTK

“As far as the indictment is concerned, I do not feel guilty. The indictment is confusing, it blames me and my department for things that were not handled. Preventive interviews, questions about monitoring the enemy, these are pleasant phrases in activities. The name Lederer is not familiar to me,” a seventy-nine-year-old man defended himself in court.

His lawyer, Edward Bruner, said the indictment was based on questionable documents. But at the same time, he admitted that he had not seen the document, only that his client had processed it. Bruner said of the prosecution: “It is a mixture of compromised ideas and assumptions, based on which the prosecutors created a picture that does not correspond to reality.”

Esterbak is interning at the KGB

The indictment was based on national security documents kept in the archives of the security forces. According to Judge Steiner, these documents proved the guilt of the “dinner skipper” beyond a reasonable doubt. Part of the evidence was a document signed by Nevecellar, which proposed measures against Lederer.

During the trial, it became clear that the former Esterback had not told his lawyers all about the document. Bruner refuted the indictment in his closing argument, saying that all the documents that were supposed to prove his client’s guilt did not have the signature of Nevecellar. When Judge Steiner confirmed the existence of such a signature while justifying the verdict, Bruner just looked at his client in confusion.

Josef Nevečeřal has been with the NSA since 1966, and in the 1970s he attended courses at the KGB in Moscow. From the second half of the 1970s he held management positions in the NSA. He finished his service as a colonel. He received several probation Police are currently prosecuting him in two financial cases due to fraud. Caseinvolving hundreds of millions of kronor.

In late summer 1980, under pressure from Neveceřal and his people, Lederer went to West Germany, where he joined the exile movement. In Munich, he worked for Radio Free Europe. For example, he read his memoirs on the radio, in which he described the reality of communist Czechoslovakia. Three years into exile, he died of a heart attack.