President Klaus signs compensation bill

Former prisoners of the communist regime and resistance fighters who do not receive Czech pensions will get a one-off allowance from the Czech state as compensation for their suffering, under a bill President Vaclav Klaus signed into law on Friday. The legislation applies, for instance, to men and women who receive old-age pensions in Slovakia or in other foreign countries, or to those who do not receive old-age pensions at all. In the Czech Republic, former resistance fighters, political prisoners of the communist regime as well as the widows, widowers and orphans of those who were executed or died in custody, prison or a concentration camp receive extra benefits paid monthly along with their pension. The level of these bonuses is periodically upgraded.