Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová awarded late Czech politician Milada Horáková, a victim of a 1950 Communist show trial, with the highest state honor.
In the 1950 show trial, the Czechoslovak communist court sentenced Horáková, a Czech lawyer and politician, to death.
Čaputová decorated 20 personalities on Thursday. In addition to Horáková, she also recognized Slovaks who participated in the Velvet Revolution that in 1989 led to the fall of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia as well as World War II resistance fighters and representatives of artistic and social life.
The award ceremony took place on the occasion of the 27th anniversary of the establishment of independent Slovakia on Jan. 1, 1993.
Čaputová awarded Horáková in memoriam with the White Double-Cross, first-class order, which is the top Slovak decoration a foreigner can receive. One of the members of the Milada Horáková Club received the order.
Horáková was executed for espionage and treason. Along with the other 12 people persecuted by the regime, Horáková was allegedly supposed to form a spy center.
Thanks to her admirable courage and intransigence during the trial, Horáková became a symbol of resistance to communist totalitarianism.
Čaputová, who awarded the state decorations for the first time since taking office last year, said in her speech that Slovakia has exceptional people who contributed to their homeland.
Last year, Čaputová’s predecessor, Andrej Kiska, decorated 30 personalities with two prominent Czechs among them, so this is not the first time the Slovak president has appreciated heroes of the neighboring state.
