Janusz Tomaszewski says lustration process must be overhauled

Former Deputy Prime Minister Janusz Tomaszewski, whose lustration case lasted one and a half years and resulted in charges against him being cleared, has recommended that future audits of public officials' background to determine past collaboration with Communist-era entities, such as the secret police, should be explicitly limited in time by law. Janusz Tomaszewski added that the role of former security service officers in such cases should be reviewed, as they are the ones who decide about the fate of individuals undergoing lustration. Professor Wieslaw Chrzanowski, a senator and leader of the Christian National Union (ZChN), called the lustration process flawed, as it was the security service members who were often to blame for the cruelty of Communist-era repression, the very same people now considered as the main upholders of justice. (Rzeczpospolita, p.A1) M.T.