News

Survivors of traffic accident victims, whose death has been caused by others, will now receive one-off compensation ranging from 80,000 to 240,000 crowns. Under a new insurance law the compensation will be paid out automatically from the insurance of the person who caused the accident. In the past survivors had to laboriously claim the compensation with courts. The highest amount would go to close family members or people living in a common household.

The Plzen regional court met on Monday to decide whether to re-open the case of Jiri Kajinek, whom it had sentenced to life for the contract murder of two people in 1998. The court is to decide whether to reopen the case on the basis of new testimonies. Of the three witnesses who testified on Monday, two claimed that they were certain Kajinek was not the killer. There have been allegations in recent months that Kajinek may have been framed by the police. Kajinek himself has never confessed to the murders. His case evoked great public interest, especially after he managed to escape from a top security prison in the year 2,000.

The Prague International Marathon was won on Sunday by Kenyan runner Barnabas Koech; among the women Ethiopian runner Leila Amman came in 1st. Mr Koech came in at 2 hours, 12 minutes and 15 seconds, while Ms Amman completed the race in just over 2 hours 30 minutes. The big news for Czech sports fans, meanwhile, was that 3rd place in the men's race was clinched by Robert Stefko, a naturalised Czech from Slovakia who received his citizenship in March. Stefko finished the race in 2 hours 12 minutes 35 seconds, becoming the first Czech to make the winner's podium in the marathon's ten year history. Mr Stefko also automatically qualified for the upcoming Athens Olympic Games.

In all, a little under 4, 500 runners took part in this year's Prague International Marathon, though many of those who took part complained about this weekend's unusually chilly weather.

Following a raid on Monday Czech police have now closed a music bar in Liberec, north Bohemia, said to have been used as an outlet for the distribution of illegal drugs. On Monday some forty officers moved in to arrest the 35-year-old proprietor of the venue, as well as a 20-year-old waiter, allegedly involved in the sale of marijuana and hashish. A sniffer-dog found 120 packages of high-quality marijuana, worth 150, 000 crowns, on the premises, while seventeen customers in the bar discovered to have cannabis and drug paraphernalia and were taken in for questioning. Two-thirds of those were found to be under the age of eighteen while nine had traces of cannabis in their blood. Police are now investigating whether drugs were sold to anyone under the age of fifteen. The owner of the bar has been remanded in custody.