State Security officers were doing a house warrant at my place and my neighbors thought I was a criminal
Vladimír Líbal was born on November 11, 1954 in Mělník. His father Miroslav Líbal was a high-ranking CPC official and commander of the People’s Militia in the Mělník district, but after 1968 he was expelled as part of the purges in the Communist Party and removed from the position of the economic deputy of the Mělník shipyards. In 1970, Vladimír entered the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Prague. He was not accepted to study at the university and after two years of the compulsory military service he began working in the district cultural center Mělník, where he was in charge of working with amateur artists. He organized cultural events with his friends, which attracted the attention of the State Security. He was interrogated many times, and house searches were carried out at his home. He was charged with public sedition in 1986, but was found not guilty by a court. In 1987, he signed the Charter 77. In November 1989, he headed the Civic Forum in Pilsen. After that he was a member of the Czech National Council for two years, then he worked as the head of the Department of Culture of the Pilsen City Hall and at the Regional Office in Pilsen.