Articles 4 To 7
A functionary of a communist state is defined as a public official including those who received legal protection similar to public officials, particularly government officials and leaders of the communist party. The functionaries involved would most likely work for Polish intelligence, security service and other internal affairs (particularly censorship and religious affairs) departments. Particular organizations named as examples include Ministry of Public Security of Poland, Służba Bezpieczeństwa and Główny Zarząd Informacji Wojska Polskiego. The communist crimes could have also been committed in Poland by members of foreign civil or military services, such as KGB, NKVD, SMERSH, and Stasi.
Crimes, recognized by international law as crimes against humanity, crimes against peace and war crimes, are not affected by the statute of limitations in Poland. Those crimes are not affected either by the former amnesty or abolition decrees issued in communist Poland before 7 December 1989. In case of murders, the Polish statute of limitations begins on 1 August 1990 and runs for 40 years, and for 30 years for other crimes.
The concept has replaced the term Stalinist crime (zbrodnia stalinowska) previously used in Polish law for similar acts, just as the concept of Nazi crime has replaced that of the hitlerite crime. Both, stalinist and hitlerite crimes were first defined by Polish legislation in 1991.
While drafting the concept of the communist crime, Polish legislators specifically discarded the notion that communist crime is equal to a Nazi crime, or that the legislation of the communist crime can be based on that of the Nazi crime (already defined in legislation of 31 August 1944), as while similar on some levels they are different enough on others to make analogies unacceptable.
Communist crimes are primarily investigated by the Institute of National Remembrance, a special research institute with prosecution powers, created by the same legislation that defined the concept of the communist crime in 1998. Two examples of such unsolved communist crimes are the Augustów chase, and Kąkolewnica massacre also known as the Baran Forest Massacre.
Read more about this topic: Communist Crimes (legal Concept), Polish Law
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