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Velvet
Justice By
NR Editors |
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 ailure
to prosecute people for the crimes they committed in the name of Communism
is perhaps the main reason why countries of the old Soviet bloc have
found it hard to launch a civil society with respect for the law.
After the Velvet Revolution, the Czech Republic had a moment of what
was called lustration, or bringing Communists to account, but it petered
out. But in Prague there is an Office for the Documentation and Investigation
of the Crimes of Communism. This office has at last initiated a range
of prosecutions of men who played a part in the murder of anti-Communist
activists going back to 1949, and the subsequent persecution of dissidents.
The Office for Documentation is also pressing for the trial of Milos
Jakes, last secretary general of the party, and former prime minister
Jozef Lenart, two of the hardliners responsible for supporting the
Soviets in crushing the Prague Spring of 1968. With Communism as with
Nazism, the future remains in suspense until due process of law cleans
up the past. |
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