By Michael Winfrey and Jana Mlcochova; addi
December 18, 2011 5:33 PM EST
PRAGUE | Sun Dec 18, 2011 4:38pm EST
(Reuters) - Vaclav Havel, a dissident playwright jailed by Communists who became Czech president and a worldwide symbol of peace and freedom after leading the bloodless "Velvet Revolution," died at 75 on Sunday.
The former chain smoker died at his country home in Hradecek, north of Prague, of a long respiratory illness after surviving operations for lung cancer and a burst intestine in the late 1990s that left him frail for more than a decade.
The diminutive playwright, who invited the Rolling Stones to a medieval Prague castle, took Bill Clinton to a smoky Prague jazz club to play saxophone, and was a friend of the Dalai Lama, rose to fame after facing down Prague's Communist rulers.
"His peaceful resistance shook the foundations of an empire, exposed the emptiness of a repressive ideology, and proved that moral leadership is more powerful than any weapon," President Barack Obama said in a statement.
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"He played a seminal role in the Velvet Revolution that won his people their freedom and inspired generations to reach for self-determination and dignity in all parts of the world."
His plays were banned for two decades and he was thrown into prison three times after launching Charter 77, a manifesto demanding the communist government adhere to international standards for human rights.
"I am extremely moved," an emotional Prime Minister Petr Necas told Czech Television when told of Havel's death.
"He was a symbol and the face of our republic, and he is one of the most prominent figures of the politics of the last and the start of this century. His departure is a huge loss. He still had a lot to say in political and social life."
Just six months after completing his last jail sentence, Havel led hundreds of thousands of protesters in Prague's cobblestone streets in a peaceful uprising in November 1989 that ended Soviet-backed rule.
Just over a month later, he was installed in Prague Castle as president of Czechoslovakia.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on Twitter: "Vaclav Havel was one of the greatest Europeans of our age. His voice for freedom paved the way for a Europe whole and free."
RELUCTANT PRESIDENT
Dismayed at the looming breakup of Czechoslovakia into separate Czech and Slovak states, he quit as president in 1992, but soon became leader of the newly-created Czech Republic.
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