Bratislava, September 20th. During the session of the National Council of the Slovak Republic the two representatives of TRP Marina Sikora and Olga Cechurova, were received by several Members of Parliament to introduce the activities and initiatives of the TRP. First they were received by two opposition deputies, Mr. Gabriel PALACKA (KDH-Christian Democratic Movement) and Ms.Maria DURISINOVA (SDL-Party of Democratic Left). After the presentation of the ideas and activities of TRP and the main campaigns adopted by its last Congess, Sikora and Cechurova have pointed particularly on the explanation of the initiatives for the establishment of the International Criminal Court and for Freedom of Tibet and Democracy in China. Both deputies expressed their readiness to present these initiatives to their colleagues as well as their interest to be informed about further course of it. Immediatelly they signed the Appeal for the Establishment of ICC, the Appeal to the General Sec

retary of UN to receive the Dalai Lama and the support of the candidacy of Wei Jingsheng for the Nobel Peace Prize 1997.

The meeting with Mr.Dusan SLOBODNIK from the leading party (HZDS-Movement for Democratic Slovakia), Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Slovak Parliament, did not bring the same results. He underlined that any engagement of small countries such as Slovakia for the freedom in Tibet and democracy in China is strongly problematic matter due to the relationship with Chinese authorities (he admitted however that those economical interests represent the obstacle for supporting Tibet even in bigger countries). He refused therefore to support any of introduced initiatives on the spot, but he promised to present it to his colleagues in the party, even if, as he recalled, such an endorsement by his party can be hardly expected. So far, he wished the TRP success in all its further work.

The meeting with Ms. Eva RUSNAKOVA, Chairman of the Parliamentary Club of DU (Democratic Union) was on the contrary very encouraging. She explained that her party is the only opposition party in Slovakia which openly asserts the ideas and methods of liberalism, and therefore she found it very close to those of the TRP. In particular she expressed strong sympathy to the campaign for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide till 2000 as well as the one for the establishment of ICC and for freedom of Tibet and democracy in China. She stressed that she is ready to support all the currently run initiatives together with her colleagues in the very next days, believing that the collaboration of her party with the TRP will be good and long-term.

During their stay in Bratislava, Marina Sikora and Olga Cechurova met also Ms. Zuzana SZATMARY, Director of the Charta 77 Foundation. She explained that even though there are 10 thousand registered NGOs in Slovakia, only few of them are really active. Freedom of expression exist, but still people and NGOs in particular must be careful, because recently adopted law forbids the "word and action against the public interest" (without an explanation what it means). Ms.Szatmary expressed her sympathy to the TRP and its initiatives and promised to present it to her colleagues and other NGOs (all the Slovak NGOs are associated in the "coalition" called Gremium and together with the Slovak section of Charta 77 and Amnesty International are sited in the same building). She would personally be engaged in collecting the support for the candidacy of Wei Jingsheng for the Nobel Prize among the University Professors.

Sikora and Cechurova spoke also with the activists from the ecological organization "Za matku zem (For the Mother of Earth)", who were interested in the Fasting Dialog of the 2nd October. They work in close cooperation with Amnesty International in Slovakia and together with it they are going to decide in the beginning of next week whether they will join the fast. In any case they expressed interest in the initiatives of the TRP as well as they are willing to support it whenever it will be possible.