The Czech government signed deals with representatives of 16 religious groups today (February 22, 2013) to pay them billions of dollars in compensation for property that the country's former Communist regime seized from them, according to the Alliance Alert website.
The move is considered highly controversial in the Czech Republic, and the left-wing opposition has asked the country's highest legal authority -- the Constitutional Court -- to disapprove it.
After today's signing, Prime Minister Petr Necas called the deals to pay 59 billion koruna ($3.1 billion) in financial compensation over the next 30 years "an act of justice."
The payment is part of a religious restitution plan approved by Parliament last year. Under it, the 16 religious groups also will get back 56 percent of their former property now held by the state -- valued at 75 billion koruna ($3.9 billion).
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