Posted on 05/10/2007 1:01:53 PM PDT by JoAnka
Like Germany back in 1990s, Poland may soon decide to disclose all communist era secret services documents, should the Constitutional Tribunal rule that the current Polish vetting, or "lustration" law is not in agreement with the Constitution.
It's the second day of the political battle over the new Polish vetting, or "lustration" law at the Constitutional Tribunal.
The law is being examined at the request of members of the far left post-communist Democratic Left Alliance party, who questioned the constitutionality of the vetting act, which requires public persons to disclose whether they had in the past collaborated with the communist security apparatus.
The proceedings of the Tribunal are being conducted in a politically tense atmosphere.
Polish President Lech Kaczyński has suggested, that there is a reason behind the Constitutional Tribunal's hurry in this case.
'There is exceptional hurry in this case, and this case actually comes down to whether you had the right to be a spy for the communists or not.'
In the course of today's session, a motion has been proposed to exclude two Constitutional Tribunal judges from the case on grounds that, allegedly, they themselves had in the past spied for the communist regime. Vice Attorney General Przemysław Piątek proposed that the Tribunal asks for an examination of communist archives pertaining to the two judges and subsequently the judges were removed from the case.
This comes in the wake of yesterday's failed attempt by the ruling Law and Justice party MP Arkadiusz Mularczyk to exclude four other judges sitting on the Tribunal because of doubts about their impartiality. Reportedly, the judges in question had previously openly voiced their opposition to the idea of disclosing communist secret service files.
'And this precise issue is now to be evaluated by the Constitutional Tribunal,' MP Arkadiusz Mularczyk explained the accusation of impartiality of the 4 judges.
Poland's ombundsman, Janusz Kochanowski, supported Mularczyk's motion:
'Impartiality is a very subtle issue and it's not a privilege, but the duty of the judge.'
Ryszard Kalisz of the far left post-communist Democratic Left Alliance opposition party protested the motion to exclude the controversial judges from the case. Jan Rokita of the major opposition Civic Platform party was of a similar opinion:
'I don't demand that the Constitutional Tribunal members do not have their opinions on politics. I think that this is normal at a political court.'
The Tribunal later ruled that the 4 judges will remain on the case.
A total disclosure of all communist services archives will be the only way out, should the Tribunal in the end declare Poland's current vetting, or "lustration" law unconstitutional, said President Lech Kaczyński:
'This is a brutal solution. I was not the initiator of it. But it is morally unacceptable that people who for years cooperated with the communist regime are now considered moral authorities in Poland.'
Jan Rokita of the major opposition Civic Platform party supported a total disclosure of communist archives, if that should turn out to be the last remaining solution.
'Sooner or later we will have to face the disclosure of the communist archives. We are on a difficult path, but the aim is good.'
Back in the early 1990s, soon after the fall of Communism, East Germany faced a similar dilemma. Georg Herbstritt, history researcher of the Gauck Institute, which manages the archives of the German communist services, describes how his country handled the problem.
'In Germany when we started to open the Stasi files, it was a compromise at the beginning of the 1990s between those who wanted to open the files and those who were afraid of this step for different reasons. Some were afraid because they said there could be a civil war coming out of it, other said they had something to hide. So there were special reasons why people didn't want to open the files. Our way in Germany was actually a compromise, saying that files may only be used for special purposes, which were defined in a law. And now, after 15 years of experience, we find out that there is a way to handle those files like normal files in the archives. I think we had good experiences with opening these documents. There was no turbulent results to this, but a lot of good results, like transparency of the administration, or the possibility for victims to find out what really happened in their biographies.'
The idea of a total transparency of documents pertaining to the communist security apparatus is also supported by Poland's legendary first post-communist president, Lech Walesa.
Ping.
ping
Boy if you think taking down a few soviet and russian memorials and statue in Poland upsets puttie, this will send him over the cliff.
They should post the archives online for the world to see, without regard for how the case goes
If the Poles can doit, let’s do it in the USA!
Open up all the Venona, Clinton-China, Sandy Berger, OKC bombing, flight 800 and other commie intelligence we have here!
We don’t have enough prison cells to hold all the “Americans” who spied for, were bought or otherwise cooperated with the enemies of the Republic against their fellow citizens...
Citizens should be able remove from society, those who plotted with the enemy to bring about the destruction of a free society....
Is a sane world, Jane Fonda, John Kerry, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Murtha, Durbin and too many to mention - should have their “files” made PUBLIC and let Society and the LAW decide what should come of the low life bastards...
Good for Poland.... I salute their interest in the pasts of “public servants”.....
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