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Czech playwright Vaclav Havel who became his country's first elected president dies aged 75
Vaclav Havel r.i.p.
Accolades....Vaclav Havel, the dissident Czech playwright who helped bring down Communism in his home country and became a national hero during the Cold War, has died in his sleep aged 75.
The playwright, who was Czechoslovakia's former president, oversaw the country's turbulent transition into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
Havel was his country's first democratically elected president after the nonviolent 'Velvet Revolution' that ended four decades of repression by a regime he ridiculed as 'Absurdistan.'
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much more, with plenty of pictures, at Sunday Mail link aboveHavel was nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and collected dozens of other accolades worldwide for his efforts as a global ambassador of conscience, defended the downtrodden from Darfur to Myanmar.
Among his many honors were Sweden's prestigious Olof Palme Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian award, bestowed on him by President George W. Bush for being 'one of liberty's great heroes.'
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Vaclav Havel r.i.p.