Ludmila Brozova-Polednova, who is in her 80s, charged with what the indictment described as the judicial killing while she was a communist regime prosecutor, didn't appear before the court when the trial opened Tuesday, Prague Radio reported. If convicted she could be sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Brozova-Polednova has denied any wrongdoing.

Brozova-Polednova was a prosecutor in the case of Milada Horakova, anti-communist politician and lawyer, who was the only woman sentenced on political grounds during show trials staged by the Czech communist regime in the 1950s.

Horakova was arrested in 1949 by communist authorities and charged with high treason and espionage. She was hanged in June 1950 at Pankrac Prison in Prague.