Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted

The Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted (Czech: Výbor na obranu nespravedlivě stíhaných; as a result the acronym VONS is used) was a Czechoslovak dissident organization founded largely by Charter 77 signatories.

Seventeen Czechoslovakian dissents and activists co-founded VONS and are named in the organization's founding 1978 declaration: Rudolf Battěk, Otta Bednářová, Jarmila Bělíková, Václav Benda, Jiří Dienstbier, Václav Havel, Přemysl Janýr, Elzbieta Ledererová, Václav Malý, Ivan Medek, Dana Němcová, Ludvík Pacovský, Jiří Ruml, Gertruda Sekaninová-Čakrtová, Anna Šabatová, Jan Tesař, and Petr Uhl.

[1][2] The Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted sought to support dissidents and their families.

VONS also cooperated with human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Helsinki Watch.

Shortly after the founding of VONS, Václav Havel and five other representatives of the organizations were arrested and sentenced to two to five years in prison.