Activist criticises Czech bill on compensation to Romani victims of WWII

Brno-based Romany rights activist Karel Holomek has criticised Czech legislation aimed at compensating Roma who were interned in Czechoslovak labour camps during World War II as being too strict. Only descendents of Roma who are known to have died in the labour and concentration camps are entitled to compensation, he said. The Interior Ministry has received about 8,000 applications for compensation so far. Mr Holomek predicts that at most a few hundred people will receive compensation. He said he regretted the fact that that no experts, historians or Romani people were invited to participate in drafting the bill.