crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes
these, resolves whether, in the light of the archives, the veracity of the statement should be viewed
as questionable. If this is the case, he/she notifies the person concerned of the same and appoints the
day by which the person has the right (not obligation) to explain his/her position. The Prosecutor
becomes also involved in a quasi-procedure aiming to prepare the vetting proceedings, as per
the principles defined in the Code of Criminal Procedure. Following completion of the action,
the prosecutor resolves whether or not to apply to the court to ascertain inveracity of the vetting
statement in question, or to state that there are no grounds on which such a petition should be filed.
In case a petition is filed with the court, the case is examined by a common court of law, as per the
provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Irrespectively of the abovementioned, administrative procedure of verification of vetting
statements, each citizen, as concerned, has the right to initiate the court proceedings. Every person who
has been wrongly accused of collaboration with the former security authorities is entitled to petition that
the court proceedings be initiated, wherein people who have not submitted a statement are now obliged
to do so.
In any case, following completion of the proceedings, the court adjudges whether the referent
vetting statement was truthful or not. If inveracity is pronounced of the referent vetting statement, as
submitted, the court rules prohibition on exercising public functions for a period of 3–10 years.
One should underline that the abovementioned activities, as based on the new legal regulations,
have only been initiated. The administrative-archival sphere of publications is already quite advanced,
although, due to the significant extent of the activities, it is difficult to make predictions as far as
conclusion of the same is concerned. With respect to the individual and court scope of the procedure,
it is fair to say that it was only on 14 March 2008 that the deadline expired to submit statements by
persons who currently exercise public functions, which means that we are actually facing the initial
phase of activities in this respect. We should not forget, however, that a significant deal of verification
was done under the previous act, and is case of court decisions which have already been made; the
procedure concerning verification of veracity of statements will not be repeated.
3. The Office for Preservation and Dissemination of Archival Records of The Institute
of National Remembrance (Biuro Udostepniania i Archiwizacji Dokumentow Instytutu
Pamieci Narodowej) is involved in performance of the following tasks:
The task to file and grant access to documents produced by the Polish and foreign state security
bodies in the years 1939–89 is included within the constitutional obligation concerning the public
authorities, as defined in Articles 61 and 51 of the Polish Constitution. Abiding by these provisions, as
well as the regulations included in the Act on The Institute of National Remembrance, the Institute has
to consider the requirements of the acts on protection of classified information, protection of personal
data, the national archives and disclosure of information about documents of the security services
of the years 1944–90, as well as the content of such documents. These tasks are performed by the
Institute via its archival department, which consists of the Office for Preservation and Dissemination of
Archival Records, the Branch Offices for Preservation and Dissemination of Archival Records, as well
as dissemination and archiving departments within the branch offices.
The archives of The Institute of National Remembrance comprises at present over 86 running
kilometres of files. By means of a comparison: the whole of the state archives in Poland is, altogether,
236 km. The process of collecting files, initiated by the Office for Preservation and Dissemination of
Archival Records in the second half of 2000, and by local units in 2001, has now been completed. The
Institute was obliged to take over documentation produced by the following state security authorities:
1. The Department of Public Security of the Polish Committee of National Liberation (Resort
Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego Polskiego Komitetu Wyzwolenia Narodowego);
2. The Ministry of Public Security of Poland (Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego);
3. The Committee for Public Security (Komitet do Spraw Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego);
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