WORLD NEWS | Czechoslovak Communist Party leader Lubomir Strougal dies at 98

PRAGUE, Feb. 6 (AP) — Lubomir Strougal, a communist-era leader of Czechoslovakia with a track record of more than 18 years as prime minister, has died. He is 98 years old.

Jiri Doles, a former Communist Party lawmaker, confirmed his death to the media on Monday. No details were given.

Read also | UK shock: 61-year-old man of Indian origin jailed for sexually assaulting 16-year-old girl in London.

Strugar was appointed prime minister in 1970, at a time when the country was ruled by a hardline communist regime established after the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Warsaw Pact troops invaded in August 1968 to suppress the political reforms and anti-communist protests of the Prague Spring.

Read also | Turkey-Syria earthquake: More than 1,900 people were killed in a powerful earthquake that shook the Turkey-Syria border.

Strugal initially opposed the invasion, but later joined the hardliners.

After Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev launched a reform program called “perestroika,” ? or restructuring, Strougal is considered a pragmatic reformer.

But hardliners led by Mulhouse Jakes prevailed, and Strugal resigned in 1988 — a year after Vaclav Havel’s Velvet Revolution ended more than 41 years of Communist rule.

Legal attempts after 1989 have failed to hold Strugar accountable for Communist-era persecution and for those killed on the Czechoslovakian border while trying to flee to the West.

Born on October 19, 1924 in Veseli an der Luznich, Strugal was a member of the Communist Party leadership for three decades, serving as Minister of Agriculture and Minister of the Interior before becoming Chancellor.

Withdrew from politics in 1989 and was expelled from the party a year later. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)