Lustracja w Polsce po 2015 r. Zmiana modelu i problemy konstytucyjne

Authors:

• Michał Krotoszyński

Abstract

Even though more than 25 years have passed since the 1989 Polish democratic transition, the Law and Justice party, which took power in autumn 2015, has introduced a new wave of transitional justice initiatives. I claim that since 2015 Poland has seen a gradual change of its lustration model from a mechanism of historical clarification, in which sanctions are imposed only for submitting a false lustration statement, to a retribution instrument, which includes retroactive sanctions for former ties with the communist secret service. However, banning former secret service officers, employees, and collaborators from holding public offices so late after transition raises doubts as to whether these regulations are consistent with the Polish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.