Opposition angry over rejection of bill to compensate people who suffered during the 1968 invasion

The legacy of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 remains an open wound, as was seen on Tuesday in the Czech parliament. Tempers rose over a bill aimed at giving financial compensation to people who suffered during the tragic events as Warsaw Pact tanks rolled into the country. David Vaughan reports.

Opposition angry over rejection of bill to compensate people who suffered during the 1968 invasion

August 1968

Deputies unexpectedly rejected the bill outright. It would have offered generous sums to relatives of the 72 people who died as a direct result of the occupation that brought an end to the dreams of the Prague Spring. The bill would also have compensated those who were injured, and women who were raped by occupying troops. It was put forward by the right-wing opposition Civic Democrats, but was rejected through the combined strength of the left in the form of the Communists and the ruling Social Democrats.

Civic Democrat deputies responded with fury, saying that rejecting the bill amounted to a defence of the Soviet occupation. The fact that in the vote the Social Democrats sided with the largely unreconstructed Communists added fuel to the flames.

August 1968

For their part, the Social Democrats are trying to play down the whole issue. Deputy Eva Novakova said that in principle the government fully supported the bill, but that it simply came at the wrong time. The government is desperately looking for ways of cutting the gaping state budget deficit, and it argues that it simply cannot afford the 600 million crowns (over 20 million US dollars) that it is estimated would be needed for the compensation.

Some in the party also argue that the system proposed in the bill for deciding who wins compensation would be prone to abuse, and they also point out that some people have already received compensation.

But whatever the fineries of the argument, the headlines in the Czech papers remain the same: "Victims of '68 to receive nothing", and in the public eye in the run-up to June's European Parliament elections, this debate will not have done the Social Democrats any favours.