PRAGUE - Former Czech president and Nobel peace laureate Vaclav Havel, hero of the Velvet Revolution that gave his country independence from Soviet rule in 1989, died on Sunday at the age of 75, his office said.
Havel, who served as head of state from 1989 to 2003, died in his sleep at dawn after a lengthy illness, his spokeswoman Sabina Tancevova said.
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