Poland defends itself against criticism of its lustration law from abroad

The newspaper cites the reaction of the European press to the 'lustration law', the new Polish law requiring certain sectors of the population to reveal any cooperation with communist secret services. Reactions have been almost universally negative. Rafal Ziemkiewicz comments sarcastically: "Nowadays there is neither democracy nor freedom of expression in Poland. The prisons are filling up with prisoners of conscience, the stakes are being set alight, and after only a few years of freedom instruments of torture are rattling as they are made ready for use. At least that's the impression Western newspapers are conveying... There is continuous demand for everything that describes Poland as a 'right-wing dictatorship'... There have been lustration laws in most of the countries that were freed from communism. Germany's laws went much further than the one now introduced in Poland. It's sad that even German newspapers appear to have forgotten this."

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