Former Defense Minister Alexej Cepicka, who was expelled from the Communist Party in the 1960s for his support of Stalinist policies, has died, the state news agency CTK reported Thursday. He was 80. No cause of death was given for Cepicka, son in law of former Czechoslovak Communist leader Klement Gottwald. Cepicka died Sunday. He became defense minister in 1950, but was dismissed from the post in 1956. He was expelled from the party in 1963 for his role in the ``deformations of the 50s,'' CTK said, alluding to the Stalinist period in Czechoslovakia. Also Thursday, the urn with Gottwald's remains was removed from the National Memorial of Zizkov in Prague and given to the representatives of the Communist Party, CTK said. Government officials attended the act. The memorial continues to house the remains of most other Czechoslovak presidents of the Communist era, along with those of nationally renowned artists and literary figures. There was no explanation of why Gottwald's urn was the only one removed, but the move likely was related to his unpopularity among most Czechoslovaks. The country's first Communist president, Gottwald is widely blamed for the Stalinist repression of the immediate post-war years.
