Olga Hepnarová was a Czech woman who was executed in 1975 by the Czechoslovakian government for killing eight people with a truck on July 10, 1973. Hepnarová was born in 1951 in Prague to a middle-class family. She struggled with mental health issues and had attempted suicide at the age of 13. As an adult, she harbored feelings of hatred towards her family and society and claimed to hear voices. In the weeks leading up to the attack, she sent letters to two newspapers explaining her plan for revenge against those who had wronged her. On the day of the attack, Hepnarová drove a truck into a group of people waiting at a tram stop, killing eight and injuring several others. She was arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder.

During her trial, Hepnarová maintained that she had committed the attack as an act of revenge against society, and was found guilty. She was sentenced to death and was executed by hanging in 1975 at the age of 24. The execution was the last to take place in Czechoslovakia before the country abolished the death penalty in 1990.

Article by Prague Forum