Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright who became the Czech Republic\'s first post-communist president, has died at the age of 75. The former leader, who suffered from prolonged ill-health, died in his sleep on Sunday morning, his secretary Sabina Dancecova said. As president, he presided over Czechosvakia\'s transition to democracy and a free-market economy. He oversaw its peaceful 1993 split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.