23. 10. 201310:14

JUDr. Stanislav Devátý

(born 1952)

He completed his apprenticeship as an electrician and then studied at the secondary school of electrical engineering and worked as a technician-electrician in several state companies. His last job before 17th November 1989 was as a computer technician. He had to leave this position after he signed the Charter 77 (1985) and became a member of the Committee for the Defence of the Unjustly Persecuted. In the years 1988-1989 was a spokesperson of the Charter 77. He became famous among the democratic part of the society by placing a wreath on the grave of Jan Palach in Všetaty on 16th January 1989, when the cemetery was literally besieged by the then State Security. In 1989 he was repeatedly imprisoned due to political reasons, the public found out about his protest hunger strikes from the (at this time only sporadically jammed) Radio Free Europe. He was a co-founder of the Association of the Friends of the USA and the Social Defence Initiative. In August 1989 he was sentenced to 20 months in prison; however he managed to escape to the already free Poland. Due to security reasons he did not return to the Czech Republic until 10th December 1989 and immediately took part in the on-going events.

In June 1990 he was included in the South Moravian candidate list of the Civic Forum (OF) and was elected as a Deputy in the Federal Assembly. He was an outspoken critic of the former communists in the OF and later joined the Civic Democrats. He was elected into the 17th November Commission, which dealt with the investigation of the police actions at the Národní Třída Avenue in Prague and all related events. As a member of the Commission he participated in the creation of the so-called Screening Act. He strived for an early publishing of the lists of State Security (StB) collaborators. In 1992 he was appointed Deputy Director of the FBIS (Federal Intelligence Service) and after the split of Czechoslovakia the Director of the newly established BIS (Security Intelligence Service). In November 1996 he resigned from this post. During his tenure as Director of BIS he completed his distance Law studies and at the beginning of 1997 became a trainee solicitor at a law firm. After passing the attorney examinations he focuses exclusively on his attorney practice, particularly in the field of human rights and freedoms, criminal law, protection of personal rights and human dignity or constitutional law.