President of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). Having written plays, such as The Garden Party (1963), which were critical of totalitarianism, in the 1970s he became the leading spokesman for Charter 77 and other human rights groups and was twice imprisoned as a dissident. Shortly after his release in 1989 he founded the opposition group Civic Forum and led a renewed campaign for political change; in December of that year he was elected President following the peaceful overthrow of Communism (the Velvet Revolution). He became President of the Czech Republic (1993–2003) after the partition of Czechoslovakia. Following his retirement he returned to playwriting with Leaving (2008).