The Defense of Democracy in the Czech Republic: the Arguments of Constitutional Jurisprudence
Abstract
The article is devoted to the study of the mechanism of lustration in the Czech Republic. To this end, the relevant legislation was analyzed, which established restrictions on access to posts for certain categories of persons in connection with their behavior during the totalitarian regime. Particular attention was paid to the analysis of the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic, which resolved the question of the constitutionality of laws on lustration. It was emphasized that the Constitutional Court recognized the nature of lustration as the removal of citizens from the possibility of access to positions in state authorities, which is carried out directly on the basis of formal, categorical features, rather than by individual conviction of persons, according to the criteria established by law, based on the duty to respect democratic the principles. Each state has the right to determine the conditions for access to participation in governance and one of these conditions is loyalty to democracy. At the same time, no person is limited to access to the political function (deputies, senators). In lustration laws, there is no question of guilt and punishment. Instead, the implementation of lustration procedures will be subject to judicial review. It is concluded that the application of lustration law in the Czech Republic has had an undeniable effect on the directions, sequence and pace of systemic reforms. In addition, lustration law has solved one more problem – the protection of the rights of persons it concerns. These individuals were protected against the unlawful use of archival materials relating to them.
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