Crimes of communism should not be statute-barred

A two-day conference in Prague on the crimes of communism has concluded that they should not come under a statue of limitations. Czech MEP Jana Hybášková said that many criminals escape justice because of a statute of limitations and pointed out that communist crimes can qualify as crimes against humanity since they involve slave-labor, deportations and judiciary murders. According to the Czech Institute for Documentation and Investigation of the Crimes of Communism 234 people were executed in communist Czechoslovakia, more than 560 died while attempting to flee to the West, at least 10,000 died in labour camps and 1,800 people simply disappeared.

Very few high-ranking communist officials have been punished for these crimes. They include Karel Hoffmann, sentenced in connection with the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, former Prague communist party leader Miroslav Štepán, former communist interior minister František Kincl and former counter-intelligence head Karel Vykypěl.