![]() ![]() The right to information ultimately benefits for the right to life ensuring. This is a vivid example of the fact that sometimes the right to information prevails over the right to privacy. When in early 2014 the Ukrainian government tried to recommence totalitarian governmental methods (“dictatorial laws of January 16”) in order to maintain its position, this led to human casualties and the occupation of part of the state territory by Russian troops. In order not to repeat the totalitarian practices of the past it is important to inform the society of how the repressive regimes are formed and the methods they use. Free access to the communist special services archives not only provides an opportunity to restore the violated rights, but also demonstrates that information about all crimes, sooner or later, will become known to the public. Building up new force institutions is, among other things, possible through breaking the chain of succession which, de facto, existed until the spring of 2014. Democratization of the special services and the police cannot properly be implemented if they continue to guard archives containing information on massive violations of human rights and continue to use methods from their predecessors’ archives. In particular, it relates to archival documents, which often serve as the only source of information about the tragic events of the past. In order for the totalitarian regime with its political repressions and other persecutions not to repeat, it must be analyzed and studied. The law “On Access to the Repressive Bodies Archives” is based on the understanding that democratic transit is impossible without respect for human rights and freedoms. ![]() Prior to that, access to all archival documents in Ukraine was regulated by the general law “On the National Archival Fund and Archival Institutions”, adopted in late 1993. Almost all former socialist camp Central and Eastern European countries and some former Soviet republics have similar acts. It is not a new practice to have a specific law that regulates access to documents of the former secret services of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes repressive bodies. ![]() ![]() The bill, which was considered by the Supreme Council, was submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers together with three other “decommunization” laws. The law “On Access to the Repressive Bodies of the Communist Totalitarian Regime of 1917– 1991 Archives” was passed by the Ukrainian Parliament on that day. Apbecame a turning point in the field of access to the KGB archives in Ukraine. ![]()
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