Publication details
Dealing with the Past: Prosecution and Punishment of Communist Crimes in Central and Eastern European Countries
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Espaco Jurídico Journal of Law |
| Citation | |
| Keywords | Communist regimes, Central and Eastern Europe, transitional justice, access to archives, lustration, successor trials, applicable law, nullum crimen sine lege, prescription |
| Description | Presented article addresses issues concerning transition to democracy in the Central and Eastern Europe, namely in Germany (former East Germany), Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The article reflects various means of transitional justice which were applied in these countries: access to the archives of secret police, lustration and prosecution of the crimes of the past (successor trials). Central issue of this article is the criminal prosecution of the communist crimes. Here authors focus their attention on two interrelated aspects: choice of applicable law and statutory limitations, which both are linked to the principle of legality. Practice and methods in prosecution of the communist crimes adopted across the analyzed countries reveal considerable heterogeneity and from comparative perspective pose a unique legal laboratory. Despite differences in applicable law, including treatment and interpretation of statutory limitations, and differences in overall outcomes of prosecution and punishment of the communist crimes, all countries conformed to requirements of the principle of legality. The article confirms that states have wide margin of appreciation how to cope with their own past, how to prosecute crimes of the former communist regimes. |