Prague, 7 February 2023 (GNP): The former Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, Lubomir Strougal, died at 98 years of age. He served as the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia continuously for 18 years, when he was appointed as the country’s Prime Minister in 1970 by the hardliners of the communist party after the Soviet invasion of 1968.
Initially, Lubomir Strougal opposed the Soviet incursion into Czechoslovakia, but later on, he joined the hardliners of the communist party opposing political reforms and anti-communist protests in the country.
After Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika and glasnost reforms, he was considered the most practical and pragmatic leader to implement this in Czechoslovakia.
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But the hardliners of the communist party led by Milous Jakes forced him to resign from Office in 1988.
While Czechoslovakia himself was transformed into a democratic republic, ending the 41 years of rule of the communist party in the country, by Vaclav Havel’s Velvet Revolution of 1989.
Many futile legal attempts were made to hold Struogal responsible for the communist-era prosecution and killing of the Czechoslovakians trying to flee from the country into the Western European countries.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, he retired from politics and the communist party also expelled him from the party.
The death of his death was confirmed to the media by the former communist party leader, Jiri Dolejs, but no further information was provided by him about Strougal’s death.