"The band Coda were playing in Drmoul. We all got geared up to see a rock show. Fík [Jiří Fiala] made a joke, letting out a rumour that the Plastic People would be playing at the end. They weren't gigging by then, just recording at Hrádeček, but no public concerts. He had access to various information channels and at the same time was being monitored by the State Security, and he leaked the news that the Plastic People would be there. Okay, good, let's go to the party... There were about eighty of us in the hall. Then three or four coaches of policemen arrived. The event ended with a ratio of two uniformed cops and one plain-clothed one to every party attendee. What an absurd paradox... it was just a normal licensed dance party. Of course, eventually it ended up in provocation. It was a mess again, we ended up at the police station and were interrogated. He had fun this way too."
"I was leaving but I came back. The guys went ahead to Hekťák's place [Libor Albert] place to finish the party. I went back to get the two paintings. Suddenly a police car pulled up. 'In the name of the law, I'm arresting you. Get in the car!' I said, 'No, I'm going home.' He pulled out a gun to coerce me and they put me in the car. They arrested me and took me in for questioning. My friends were walking down Chebská Street and as the car was turning, I opened the door and tried to get out. The driver slowed down and asked a military patrol for help in pushing me back into the car. I was stronger. They didn't even want to bother. The people who were leaving Kubáň were there, they surrounded the car, and a melee began. They freed me. It was good except for the paintings that I left inside the police car. Then, from what I know, a bottle came flying and one of the cops got hit in the head. It bounced off the car, burst into pieces, he was bleeding, a big deal. The cops called for backup. They took the injured officer to hospital and started to deal with it. I was already out. We needed to make a phone call because Hekťák had put his phone in the oven. I had to call my brother to see if came home and hid the tapes. As we were walking, cars came down with cops and dogs, and we were arrested. They dragged us in for questioning. They stripped us naked to find syringe punctures and beat us to a pulp. I had my hair pulled out and my knee injured. Then they kicked us out. I was surprised. I expected a detention, but they didn't start dealing with it until the following week. Assaulting public officials. They began arresting us, interrogating us again and again. Dino was taken straight to detention in Ostrov because he had given them his ID [earlier in Kubáň]. This was in September 1988. They didn't let him out of detention until November or December. They didn't prove anything to him, but he was sentenced conditionally so that they would appear victorious. Hekťák and I wrote a complaint about the police violence, how they beat us up in the police station. A committee received it, they interrogated us, and of course it went nowhere because of their own witnesses. We wrote another complaint, but in the end they turned it against us, claiming that we defamed the police and assaulted a public official. They turned it around and sentenced us to five years claiming we were highly dangerous. They rated the event as anti-state and said we were subversive elements. They combined it all into one to get their revenge on us. The trials dragged on were eventually nullified after the revolution, so they didn't take it all the way."
Vladimír Svoboda, nicknamed Metud in the underground circles, was born in Mariánské Lázně on 17 February 1966. His father Vilém Svoboda was German and his mother Marie, née Linková, came from Ukraine. Between 1980 and 1983 he trained as a carpenter in Kynšperk nad Ohří and Karlovy Vary. By then, he had became close to the West Bohemian underground community. Following his apprenticeship, he started working as a joiner at the Municipal Construction Company in Mariánské Lázně where he was employed until 1989. He took part in many West Bohemian underground events, banned concerts, exhibitions, and happenings. During his military service from 1986 to 1987, he attended several underground concerts in Dan Mraz’s house in Služetín. He took part in distributing samizdat magazines, books and political manifestos. In September 1988, during Milan Dino Vopálka’s birthday party in Mariánské Lázně, he was involved in a clash with the police, experienced police brutality during interrogation and was tried for assaulting a public official. He faced a sentence of up to five years without parole, but his trial was interrupted in November 1989. He worked as a promoter of the Eldorado music club in Mariánské Lázně in the 1990s. He received a certificate of participation in the Third Resistance from the Minister of Defence in 2022.
Top row from left: Evžen, Vladimír Metud Svoboda, Zdeněk Čůza Muzikář, Jarda Bedas Malinka. Bottom row from left: Petr Čoudek Dejmek, Marek Možíš, Pavel Pepe Svoboda, Dája Kuželovský, Tonda Kučera
Top row from left: Evžen, Vladimír Metud Svoboda, Zdeněk Čůza Muzikář, Jarda Bedas Malinka. Bottom row from left: Petr Čoudek Dejmek, Marek Možíš, Pavel Pepe Svoboda, Dája Kuželovský, Tonda Kučera
The Quasimodo Bells show at Lido in Mariánské Lázně in 1994. From left: Vladimir Metud Svoboda, Jarda Bedas Malinka, Pavel Pepe Svoboda on vocals, Vladimir Indián Štark on drums, Josef Švanda
The Quasimodo Bells show at Lido in Mariánské Lázně in 1994. From left: Vladimir Metud Svoboda, Jarda Bedas Malinka, Pavel Pepe Svoboda on vocals, Vladimir Indián Štark on drums, Josef Švanda
