European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 22, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 the stars and stripes wednesday february 22,1989 czech playwright jailed for role in rally Prague Czechoslovakia a playwright Vaclav Havel was convicted and sentenced tuesday to nine months in prison for his role in a rally honouring the memory of a student who killed himself to protest the 1968 soviet led invasion. Havel Czechoslovakia s Best known dissident was charged with inciting people to participate in the banned Jan. 16 rally and for obstructing the duty of a Public official. On the first count he could have been sentenced to a maximum term of two years and on the second to another six months in prison. Havel was found guilty of both offences in a one Day trial. The prosecution of Havel and other opposition activists has gone on despite widespread criticism at Home in the East bloc and in the West that the communist leaders Are dealing too harshly with dissent. Seven other activists from the charter 77 human rights committee and other Independent movements also went on trial tuesday. Authorities banned a number of Western diplomats and representatives of human rights organization from the trials. Havel 52, who helped found the charter 77 move ment has been harassed and detained by authorities almost constantly since his 1975 open letter to communist party Leader Gustay Husak accused authorities of creating a bureaucratic order of Gray Monotony that stifles All  Havel was convicted of sedition and sentenced to four years in jail in 1979. Authorities have banned his plays which Are widely acclaimed in production abroad. Earlier tuesday More than 100 Havel sympathizers had jammed a Small stairwell leading to the court room loudly cheering him As police led him to the trial. Havel s brother Ivan claimed that Havel did not take part in the Jan. 16 Flower laying ceremony in a downtown Prague Square but that he was detained on the Square an hour later. The seven other defendants All activists with charter 77 and other Independent groups face hooliganism charges in connection with the Jan. 16 gather ing. The charges carry a maximum two year jail sen tence. The seven were detained after seeking to Lay Flowers in memory of Jan Palach the student who burned himself to death 20 years earlier to protest the soviet led invasion that quashed reforms in Czechoslovakia. The arrests came during a week of protests that were the largest in Prague since Palach s death. Ota Veverka one of the seven charter 77 human rights group activists being tried said what happened on Wenceslas Square was not a criminal act but an assault by  most of the defendants said they came separately to the Square to Lay Flowers in Palach s memory and no demonstration was planned. More than 2,000 intellectuals have signed a petition calling for the government to release the dissidents. It was the first time since the 1968 invasion that establishment intellectuals have sided with opposition activists in Public. The trials also have drawn an official protest from the hungarian writers Union As Well As criticism from the United states Britain and other Western governments and groups. Last month nato the Warsaw pact and 12 other european nations agreed on new human rights accords in Vienna. Britain and the United states have charged that the trials violate the spirit of those accords. Nine Independent groups in Czechoslovakia have appealed to All 35 states that signed the new accords to protest the trials. One of the charter 77 activists Dana nem Cova has been hospitalized with an undisclosed ailment and will stand trial separately the official ctr news Agency reported. News updates cambodian talks Jakarta Indonesia up the cambodian peace talks ended tuesday night without any conces Sions from the warring factions leading to a settlement of the 10 year old conflict. After Only an hour Long final meeting of the 12 delegations indonesian foreign minister a Ala Las said we have tried very hard to narrow the  the three Days of negotiations were marred by rancor and insults with each Side blaming the other for the failure to make Concrete Progress. Albanian protest Belgrade Yugoslavia a thousands of ethnic albanians stopped work or went on hunger strike in the ethnically troubled yugoslav province of Kosovo tuesday protesting alleged anti Al Banian policies in some parts of the country official Media and sources said. The protest one of the largest in the Southern province was Trig gered by a hunger strike of More than 1,000 ethnic albanian miners who refused to leave their pits at the Trepca Lead Zinc mine protest ing alleged discrimination by authorities in Yugoslavia s largest re Public of Serbia of which Kosovo is an administrative part. Thousands of other ethnic albanians in the economically de pressed province walked off their jobs in other Kosovo towns tues Day in support of the miners de mands that the communist party chiefs of Yugoslavia and Serbia Stipe Suvar and Slobodan Milo Sevic come to talk with them Media reports said. T pos arrive Home Baghdad Iraq a eighty sick and wounded iraqi prisoners of War arrived in Bagh dad on tuesday after being re leased by Iran with some drop Ping to kiss the ground As they stepped off the plane. Correction a photo caption yesterday accompanying an article on officers wives was incorrect. The photo depicted new offi cers of the Heidelberg officers and civil ians women s club being introduced. Army officials re examining policy on leadership school requirement by Crystal Laureano staff writer specialists and corporals May get a re Prieve from a requirement to attend leadership school by sept. 30 or lose their place on the promotion list army personnel officials said. The primary leadership development course will be required for promotion to sergeant beginning oct. 1. On sept. 30, e-4s who have not completed Ploc or an equivalent course Are to be removed from promotion waiting lists. Only after completing the school will soldiers be Al Lowed to appear before a promotion Board and get Back on the list. More than 12,000 specialists and corporals in Europe now on promotion lists have less than eight months to Complete the leadership school or face removal from the lists 1st personnel come officials in West Germany said. However the department of the army is re examining the policy and has asked for input from major commands said an army enlisted personnel manage ment official in Washington. We Are considering a change that would allow soldiers to remain on the list but not actually be promoted until they graduate from Ploc the official said. The problem is the army has the cae acuity to train new people coming on the St Between now and sept. 30 but cannot handle the backlog currently clogging the system he said. The army has asked for comments from major commands by March 3, so the personnel official anticipates that definitive guidance will be out in lat March. On Jan. 25 there were 12,142 promo table e-4s and 6,663 sergeants in the army in Europe who had not attended the leadership course said Sec. William Kiser of the military personnel operations Branch at 1st personnel come. Analysis of promotion histories shows that an average of 829 e-4s Are recommended for promotion each month of whom 359 Are promoted to sergeant. The soldiers not promoted an average 470 per month become part of the group that must Complete the leadership course before sept. 30 to stay on the promotion list. Based on those figures an additional 3,760 soldiers will be added to the More than 12,000 now waiting to attend the school according to army figures. However 1st personnel come officials say the Ploc academies Able to train Only about 12,000 soldiers before the deadline will fall Short of qualify ing All promotable e-4s. Ploc is taught at six non commissioned officer Academy locations in West Germany bad Tolz Baum older Butz Bach Katterbach Kitzinger and Augsburg said master sgt. Paul Bittinger at 7th army training come. He said 15,000 soldiers per year can be accommodated in the course. The training Cen Ter courses Are open to All soldiers stationed in Europe. Starting this month Ploc academies in Europe Are Only accepting specialists and corporals currently on waiting lists for promotion in an attempt to prevent As Many soldiers As possible from being ineligible for promotion at the end of the fiscal year. This move coincides with the Priori ties set by the department of the army giving promotable e-4s first shot at available slots. Sergeants who must Complete Ploc prior to appearing be fore staff sergeant promotion boards have been Given second priority by the army. However it is unlikely that any sergeants will be attending the course be fore the end of the year because of the need to deplete the backlog of lower ranking soldiers officials in Europe said. In another policy change staff sergeants will be required to graduate from the Basic non commissioned officer course for their military specially to be considered for promotion and advanced courses. The requirement will go into effect with the 1990 selection Board that con siders staff sergeants for promotion to sergeant first class and for admission to advanced non commissioned officer courses. The Board is scheduled to con Vene oct. 19, 1990. Priorities for Basic course attendance Are determined at the department of the army. Staff sergeants will have first priority based on their Date of rank. Sergeants on the staff sergeants promotion lists will follow based on the number of promotion Points they have. Contributing to this report staff writer Chuck Vinch i Washington 7th victim of Remscheid Jet crash Dies Remscheid West Germany a seventh person has died As a result of a dec. 8 crash of a . Air Force Jet in Remscheid officials said tuesday. Paul Gerd Kiipper a 47-year-old truck Driver died feb. 11 in a local Hospital a City spokesman said. Kiipper was severely burned when an a-10 Thunderbolt ii anti tank plane crashed into a Remscheid residential area. The crash injured 50 people. Attention in West Germany has been focused on military training flights after a series of fatal military air crashes last year. The worst Accident occurred aug. 28 at the Ramstein a air show when three italian jets collided while performing an Aerial Man Euver. One of the jets crashed near a crowd of spectators killing 70 people and injuring hundreds of others. The . Air forces Europe announced last week that it was cancelling open houses and Aerial displays at its bases in West Germany for 1989. Army releases name of freeway crash victim Fulda West Germany the army on tuesday released the name of a first lieutenant killed thursday night when his car rammed a truck on autobahn 3. The officer 1st it. Leighton s. Dris Dale 24, was assigned to 2nd so Lith army Cav regt in bad Kissinger a Mil itary Community spokeswoman said. Could Cut him  was pronounced dead at the scene. Dinsdale was travelling alone from Drisdale is survived by his parents Frankfurt to Wurzburg when his car who live in Maryland. A memorial serv struck the truck trapping him for 30 ice was held tuesday in Daley Barracks minutes until West German firefighters Chapel in bad Kissinger