The witness became the accused
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Kamil Honisch was born in Pardubice on 8 March 1964. His father was a civil engineer who emigrated to Germany three years after the birth of his son Karel. His mother worked at Sazka Sportka. Kamil Honisch completed primary school in Pardubice. He was harassed in school because of his long hair, his liking for Western rock music and his father’s emigration. His class teacher called him “Kraut” and even “fascist” in tense situations. After school, he apprenticed as a locksmith in Jaroměř, experiencing similar bullying from his foreman. He then joined the ZSN construction and mechanisation company. By then, he had been a regular at underground events in Pardubice, semi-official and illegal concerts and art exhibitions. With his friends, he would mimeograph Western bands’ lyrics, samizdat boooks and various proclamations of Charter 77 and VONS. He also played the guitar and painted. Kamil Honisch repeatedly experienced police harassment and insults because of his long hair. In September 1983, he a concert in Kunětice near Pardubice. The police brutally dispersed the visitors isomg dogs and physical violence. Six of the organisers were arrested on the spot and Karel Honisch volunteered as a witness on behalf of the detainees. However, during the first interrogation at the State Security headquarters in Pardubice, his role as a witness was changed to that of an accused. The investigation took six months and the trial took place on 17 February 1984 before the District Court in Pardubice. Kamil Honisch was sentenced to eight-month imprisonment for defamation, insults and assault on a public official. Since he was on probation for an earlier traffic accident, the court finally sentenced him to 32 months in prison. He began serving his sentence on 1 September 1984 in the Hradec Králové prison, later relocating to Nové Sedlo where he initially nailed sleepers and then worked manually in Železárny Chomutov. While serving his sentence, he was once punished with a three-day solitary for refusing to tell on a person who gave him milk. He was to be released under a presidential amnesty in May 1985 but because of a negative report - his attitude allegedly clashed with the proper life of a socialist worker - he remained in prison. He was not released on parole until the spring of 1986. In the autumn of the same year he had to enlist for two years of military service in Nové Mesto nad Váhom, where he was deployed with other soldiers maintaining a Soviet military training ground. Having returned from the military, he started working as a locksmith again. He took part in the Palach Week in Prague in January 1989, and got involved with the Pardubice Civic Forum in November. After the fall of the communist regime, Kamil Honisch worked as an anchor with the rock radio stations Panag and Live in Pardubice, and nowadays he makes his living as an MC of various musical events and a DJ. He received an award as a participant of the anti-communist resistance.
