Milan Balabán

Balabán was born on 3 September 1929 in the village of Boratyn, Tarnopol Voivodeship, Poland (now located in present-day Ukraine).^[1] He graduated from the Protestant Theological Faculty (Evangelická teologická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy [cs]) at Charles University and became a minister in the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren.^[1]

Balabán joined the Nová orientace [cs] (New Orientation), a group of Protestant Evangelical theologians and clergy which advocated for democratic reforms in Czechoslovakia, during the 1950s.^[1] He continued to push for democratic reforms throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, as an anti-communist dissident. As a result, the communist Czechoslovak Socialist Republic authorities revoked his license to serve as a clergyman in 1974.^[2] He was forced to work manual labor jobs, which included time in the Prague city sewer system.^[1][2]

Balabán signed the Charter 77, which called for human rights and democratic reforms in Czechoslovakia.^[1]

Milan Balabán died on 4 January 2019 in Libice nad Cidlinou, Czech Republic, at the age of 89.^[1][2]

• Medal of Merit (October 2002), awarded by President Václav Havel, a fellow Charter 77 dissident.^[2]