SLOVAK victims of the 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact military forces will receive compensation through a law that Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič signed on November 28. The law also specifies the value of each compensation package, the TASR news agency reported.
In order to claim the compensation, forms must be submitted to the Justice Ministry by the end of 2006. The claims will have to have documents or records proving eligibility attached. In cases where the victims have already died, their next-of-kin may claim the compensation.
The Czech Republic recently passed a similar law.
According to the available data, the August 1968 invasion by the military forces of the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic (former East Germany), Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria resulted in 26 deaths and 181 wounded. However, the number of victims rose in the following weeks and months as victims succumbed to the injuries they sustained.
