Jiří Wolf

Who is Jiří Wolf?

Jiří Wolf is a signatory of Charter 77, former political prisoner, anticommunist, author of storybooks, and radical opponent and critic of the "nobility of the Charter", which, in his opinion, includes Václav Havel and several other persons close to the former Czech president.

Wolf was for the first time arrested on 16 February 1978 after the police found "subversive, anti-Party, and anti-socialist documents" during a house search. As result, he was sentenced to three years in prison for subversion. After Wolf claimed that his confession had been forced by physical and psychological pressure, he was prosecuted for false accusation and his punishment was increased by another six months in prison. Wolf then spent more than half a year in isolation or in a special ward in the prison in Minkovice, during which period he lost about twenty kilograms in weight. Due to his failure to meet working standards, Wolf also spent part of the sentence in the prison in Valdice under the strictest supervision.

According to the testimony of Wolf's former inmate in Minkovice, he manifested himself as a passionate supporter of the freedom of thought and protection of human rights ímmediatelly after he had entered the prison. After he rejected any cooperation, the prison management assigned him to the hardest workplace in the prison. Wolf was unable to meet the required working standards there and also suffered several attacks by violent recidivists. Further escalation of disciplinary sanctions resulted in the transfer to a special ward with the harshest conditions. Wolf was held there for three months. Despite all, Wolf remained a fanatical debater defending his truth. The following stream of disciplinary punishments for "refusing to work", often for trumped-up reasons, resulted in him becoming rather withdrawn toward the end of his sentence.