Welcome and opening speech by Dr. Roos on the occasion of the international experts’ conference „Lustration"

One focus of our work in this sector is on aspects of the political-judicial coping with the past, i.e. on the investigation of the question how the past can be dealt and coped with by law and within the boundaries set by the rule of law. „Lustration is meant to create a breathing space for democracy, where it can lay down roots without the danger that the people in high positions of power will try to undermine it. … The aim of lustration is not to punish people presumed guilty – this is the task of prosecutors using criminal law – but to protect the newly-emerged democracy.” (Severin, Measures to dismantle the heritage of the former communist totalitarian systems, Doc. 7568, 3 June 1996)

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