Prague:

Milous Jakes, the Communist Party leader in the former Czechoslovakia at the time of the Velvet Revolution in 1989, has died aged 97.

The Communist Party confirmed his death on Tuesday without providing any details.

Mr Jakes was appointed the secretary general of the party in 1987.

From the conservative wing of the party, Mr Jakes opposed a brief period of liberal reforms in 1968 known as the Prague Spring, which was subsequently crushed that year by troops from the Warsaw Pact.

He was part of the hardline regime that took over following the invasion and had been general secretary of the party for only two years before the Velvet Revolution, led by the late writer, Vaclav Havel, ended 40 years of communist rule.