Cabinet selects 12 candidates for state orders

The cabinet proposed its candidates for posthumous honours to Slovak President Rudolf Schuster on December 7. Dissident Milan Šimečka and persecuted Bishop Pavol Gojdič were selected as winners of the Pribina Cross, First Class.

At a January 3 ceremony at the Presidential Palace, Schuster is also to posthumously award Alexander Dubček, the hero of 1968 Prague Spring and the creator of the 'socialism with a face' ideology designed to humanise the communist regime.

As recipients of the Pribina Cross, Second Class, the cabinet proposed professor Peter Danisovič, an engineer who worked on the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros dam; Alojz Habovštiak, a renowned archaeologist and expert on the medieval age; Lajos Turczeli, the foremost Hungarian literary historian in Slovakia; and Štefan Paulíny, the director of Volkswagen Slovakia.

The Pribina Cross, Third Class should go to Vladimír Černušák, the former president of the Slovak Olympic Committee, and Stefan Paulíny, first Slovak Ambassador to the Netherlands.

Others recommended to be honoured include Emil Naťer, a Bratislava investigator who risked his life in capturing the murderer Jozef Matula, and Rudolf Tvaroška, a former professional soldier who has contributed to the development of military sports.

US Senator Benjamin J. Gilman should be decorated with the Order of the White Cross, Second Class, which is the highest state order for foreigners. Gilman has been suggested because the positive view the US Congress has taken of Slovakia's bid for NATO integration is largely considered his doing.

Gilman is also a renowned human rights and religious freedom activist. In 1978 he received international recognition for his role in securing the release of political prisoners in Germany, Mozambique, Cuba and other countries.

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