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Carolina (English) No 169
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STUDENT'S E-MAIL NEWS FROM CZECH REPUBLIC
Faculty of Social Science of Charles University
Smetanovo nabr. 6
110 01 Prague 1
Czech Republic
e-mail: CAROLINA@cuni.cz
tel: (+42 2) 24810804, ext. 252, fax: (+42 2) 24810987
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
C A R O L I N A No 169, Friday, August 11, 1995.
EVENTS FOR JULY 26-AUG. 9, 1995
State Attorney Drops First Five Charges of High Treason
Former top-ranking Communist officials Karel Hoffman, Milos Jakes,
Jan Piller, Zbynek Sojak and Jozef Lenart were charged last week with
high treason for their role in the August 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of
Czechoslovakia by the Office for the Documentation and Investigation of
the Crimes of Communism (UDV).
But Josef Kredba, head of the State Attorney's Office in Prague,
said the charges, filed July 31, lacked a precise description of the
crime. He sent the case back to the UDV for reworking, and the UDV plans
to submit the new version of the charges by the end of this week.
"The investigator committed professional errors that would have
prevented the criminal proceedings from being carried through to
completion," Kredba was quoted as saying in the Aug. 8 edition of Lidove
Noviny.
Mlada Fronta Dnes reminded its readers the same day that this is
the second case of high treason that has lawyers fighting over mistakes
in the prosecution of former Communist Party officials. In January the
State Attorney had to stop the prosecution of Jakes and Hoffman for
supplying arms to the People's Militia (the Party's paramilitary force)
because they were mistakenly prosecuted as fugitives.
Lida Truneckova/Alex Zucker
Charges Dropped Also Against Masin Brothers; State Attorney Disagrees
Chief State Attorney Libor Grygarek said Tuesday the
investigator's decision to drop charges against Ctirad and Josef Masin
for killing six people during their escape from Communist Czechoslovakia
in the early Fifties was unlawful.
The investigator of the case dropped the charges at the urging of
the Office for the Documentation and Investigation of the Crimes of
Communism.
The Masin brothers, who started a resistance group to fight
communism after the Party came to power in February 1948, now live in
the United States. L. Truneckova/A. Zucker
Social Democrats Try - and Fail - to Pick Up Former Premier Calfa
Milos Zeman, chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD),
met for nearly two hours last week with former Czechoslovak Premier
Marian Calfa in an effort to convince him to join the CSSD, according to
the Aug. 4 edition of Rude Pravo. Calfa, however, said he was doing well
with his private law practice and that he did not want to get involved
with politics again.
After serving as deputy prime minister under the Communists, Calfa
resigned from the Party after the revolution in 1989 and ran as
a candidate for the Slovak movement Public Against Violence in the first
free elections in June 1990. He then served as prime minister of the
Czechoslovak federal government from 1990 to 1992. Milan Smid/A. Zucker
Police Still Searching for Escaped Prisoner
Ladislav Winkelbauer, charged with two murders, escaped Aug. 3
while being transported from questioning on Bartolomejska Street to the
prison in Prague's Pankrac district and remains at large.
Armed with a pistol, Winkelbauer, 36, forced the two police
officers who were transporting him to drive to the outskirts of the
city, near the Tocna airport, then tied them to a tree and drove off in
their Volga. The car was found the next day in another part of Prague.
The policeman who violated regulations by letting the prisoner sit
in the back seat alone has been released from the force, the driver of
the car has been relieved of his duties, and the escort division has
been dissolved.
The Ministry of the Interior authorized reinforcements for a search
operation in Prague and asked Interpol for cooperation.
Winkelbauer is believed to have taken part in a large gold theft in
Poland, and is being charged with blowing up a car with his accomplice
and his accomplice's girlfriend inside it last August.
Ondra Trunecka/A. Zucker
7,000 Crown "Admission Fee" to Czech Republic Starting in September
Starting Sept. 1, foreigners entering the Czech Republic must be
able to demonstrate that they have at least 7,000 crowns worth of money
on them or proof that they have access to it inside the country.
Children under the age of 15 need only 3,500 crowns.
Foreigners entering the country at the invitation of someone must
have proof that their host can cover the costs of their lodging and
their trip out of the country, certified by the Interior Ministry.
L. Truneckova/A. Zucker
NEWS IN BRIEF
* Corp. Petr Vales, 22, and Sgt. Ludek Zeman, 37, both killed in
Croatia Aug. 5, are the fourth and fifth casualties among Czech troops
serving in the UN peacekeeping corps, and the first ones to be killed as
a direct consequence of the fighting.
* Most Czech travel agencies are cancelling their holiday trips to
Croatia, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recommended that Czech
tourists south of Rijeka leave this area and reconsider their stay in
all other Croatian summer resorts as well.
* Formal charges of propagating alarming information against Jan Vik,
the Republican deputy who was stripped of immunity by Parliament July
25 (see last Carolina), have yet to be filed, as Vik is allegedly still
on vacation and cannot be handed the charges. L. Truneckova/M. Smid
BUSINESS/ECONOMICS
Trade Deficit Larger than Expected for First Half of '95
The Czech Republic showed a deficit of 46.9 billion crowns in
foreign trade in the first six months of this year, according to the
Czech Bureau of Statistics. The government's 1995 budget projected
a total trade deficit of 20 to 40 billion crowns for the entire year.
L. Truneckova/A. Zucker
Exchange Rates at the Czech National Bank (Aug. 10, 1995)
Checks Cash
country buy sell middle buy sell middle
Great Britain 1 GBP 41.824 42.244 42.034 40.61 43.45 42.03
France 1 FRF 5.367 5.421 5.394 5.19 5.59 5.39
Italy 1000 ITL 16.438 16.604 16.521 15.75 17.29 16.52
Japan 100 JPY 28.515 28.801 28.658 27.36 29.96 28.66
Canada 1 CAD 19.243 19.437 19.340 18.45 20.23 19.34
Austria 1 ATS 2.636 2.662 2.649 2.59 2.71 2.65
Germany 1 DEM 18.536 18.722 18.629 18.17 19.09 18.63
Switzerland 1 CHF 22.381 22.605 22.493 21.99 22.99 22.49
USA 1 USD 26.125 26.387 26.256 25.56 26.96 26.26
Slovakia 1 XCU -- -- 34.719 -- -- --
CULTURE
Stones Rock Prague the Second Time Round
Saturday night the Rolling Stones played Strahov Stadium in Prague
before a crowd of more than 130,000, including both President Vaclav
Havel and, according to the Czech News Agency (CTK), Prime Minister
Vaclav Klaus.
On Sunday President Havel received the members of the band at the
Castle and accepted a gift of 20,000 pounds to be used for new lighting
in the Castle complex. O. Trunecka/A. Zucker
SPORTS
Former Goalie for Czechoslovak National Hockey Team Dead
Former top Slovak hockey player and long-time Czechoslovak national
team goalkeeper Vladimir Dzurillla, died July 27 at the age of 52 as
a result of heart failure.
Dzurilla was living in Germany where he worked as a special coach
for Dusseldorfer EG.
The Czech press noted that he played 571 matches in the Czech
hockey league, a record for goalies, as well as 139 matches for the
Czechoslovak national team, and four Winter Olympics.
In the 1970s Dzurilla played for three world champion teams, and he
was in goal for both of the memorable victories over the Soviets in
1969 in Stockholm (2-0, 4-3) when politics overshadowed sports following
the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968.
L. Truneckova/M. Smid
Solid Start for Czech Kickers in European Cup Matches
The Prague "S" duo won their first matches in the preliminary round
of the UEFA Cup Aug. 8, as Sparta defeated Galatasaray Istanbul 3-1 on
their home field at Letna, while Slavia eeked out a 1-0 win against
Sturm in Graz, Austria. Jiri Trunecka/A. Zucker
Three Rounds in One Week and Now a Break for Czech Soccer League
Slovan Liberec continues to lead the league without a loss, while
Boby Brno, who finished third last year, have yet to score a single goal
and remain in the cellar with no points.
This weekend the First League has off, as the national team will be
playing a qualification match in Norway on Aug. 16.
First Round Results: Sigma Olomouc - Slavia Praha 2:1, Svit Zlin
- Hradec Kralove 1:1, Kaucuk Opava - Petra Drnovice 1:2, Sparta Praha
- Ceske Budejovice 3:0, Slovan Liberec - Boby Brno 1:0, Union Cheb
- Uherske Hradiste 1:0, Viktoria Zizkov - Banik Ostrava 2:1, FK Jablonec
- Viktoria Plzen 1:0.
Second Round Results: Uherske Hradiste - Sparta Praha 2:2, Banik
Ostrava - Union Cheb 3:0, Hradec Kralove - Kaucuk Opava 0:1, Slavia
Praha - Svit Zlin 2:0, Slovan Liberec - Sigma Olomouc 2:0, Ceske
Budejovice - FK Jablonec 3:0, Boby Brno - Viktoria Plzen 0:3 (Viktoria
Zizkov - Petra Drnovice postponed until Aug. 20).
Third Round Results: Kaucuk Opava - Slavia Praha 1:1, Sparta Praha
- Banik Ostrava 1:1, Viktoria Zizkov - Hradec Kralove 2:2, Union Cheb
- Petra Drnovice 1:2, Viktoria Plzen - Ceske Budejovice 2:0, FK Jablonec
- Uherske Hradiste 4:0, Sigma Olomouc - Boby Brno 2:0, Svit Zlin
- Slovan Liberec 0:1. Mirek Langer
Sports in Brief
* The Czechs are faring badly at the world track and field championships
in Goteborg, Sweden. In the decathlon Tomas Dvorak finished fifth, while
Olympic champion Robert Zmelik finished 14th. World record holder Jan
Zelezny in the javelin remains the Czechs' last hope for a medal.
* In bike racing, Pavel Buran took three titles at the Czech track
cycling championships.
* In mountain bike racing, former BMX racer Pavel Camrda and top
cross-country skier Katerina Neumannova took the mens' and womens'
national titles.
* Slovak Jan Svorada, winner of the Peace Race and the most successful
professional cyclist from the former Czechoslovakia, has obtained Czech
citizenship and will now race for the Czech Republic.
* According to a survey by the Czech News Agency (CTK), 25 percent of
all Czechs exercise at least once a week (cycling, swimming, hiking and
soccer are the most popular sports), while 31 percent watch sports on
television and the same percentage is not interested in sports at all.
Mirek Langer/A. Zucker
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