1988. október (246-270. szám) / HU_BFL_XIV_47_2
©™£ Editor: György Krassó * 24/D Little Russell Street * London, WC1A 2HN * Tel. 01-430 2126 (írom abroad 441-430 2126) 251/1988 (E) 5th October, 1988 The Historical Jurisdiction Committee Demands Gomplete Rehabilitation The Historical Jurisdiction Committee was formed in July by relatives of those who were executed and by those imprisoned after the 1956 revolution. In its announcement it demands an honourable burial fór those who were executed, the raising of a nat- ional monument and complete rehabili tation fór ex-j?olitical prisoners and fór those who were persecuted. As a result Prime Minister Karoly Grósz was forced to promise that ex-56-prisoners would be exonerated from the different restrictions which beset them and on September 30th the Hungárián Republic’s Presidential Council issued a law decree on this subject. However this clemency decree is exceptionally limited and contains a number of disqualifications and it does nőt satisfy Hungárián society’s demands. Thus the Historical Jurisdiction Committee, which in the meantime has formed historical, legal and clemency sections, was obliged to express its attitűdé in a letter to the Hungárián law makers and to competent state and press leaders. The Committee’s letter, dated September 20th, was drafted immediately the clemency decree plán =was published, it repeats all that was said in its June announcement, according to which "an honourable confrontation with the pást, historical jurisdiction, is the Party and state leadership’s morál debt to the whole nation, a leadership which advocates renewal". It states that "the morál renewal vitai to Hungárián society’s economie recovery is nőt possible while acts of violence and injustice which sully our modem history remain undenied, undefined and uncondemned by the state. . . . Ex-political prisoners, those who were vilified and in a wider sense the whole of Hungárián society does nőt want clemency bút justice." The Committee’s statement holds it unacceptable that the clemency decree contains restrictions in regard to both the qualification of actions and to the time of perpetration. The courts in accordance with the temporary interests of the authorities often qualified political actions as immoral ones and accused young people partici- pating in armed uprising of attempted murder, such disqualifications from exoneration are totally unjustified. It is nőt possible to accept the time limit of May lst 1957 as people were accused of committing crimes and were sentenced years later whose political views were nőt shared by the authorities. The Committee demands that exoneration from discrimination should include everyone, apart from those who committed crimes against humanity, who between April 4-th 1945 and April 4-th 1963 was sentenced on political charges. The Committee alsó demands the repeal of other discriminations, such as those concerning pension fixing and the so-called certificate of probity. It demands that those who récéivé exoneration should nőt have their previous conviction referred to in any sort of personal or other document. Morál satisfaction must alsó be given to those who were deported, interned and others who were persecuted without being sentenced. The letter was signed on behalf of the Committee by Dr Árpád Göncz, Dr Tibor Zimányi, György Litván, Dr György Forintos and Dr Alajos Dornbach, and was sent on Monday October 3rd to all M.P.s, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of State, the Minister of the Interior and to the Hungárián Press Agency, the Népszabadság (Peoples Freedom), the Népszava (Peoples Word), the Magyar Nemzet (Hungárián Nation), the Heti Világgazdaság (Weekly World Economy) and to the U,i Tükör (New Mirror). —-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------, Subscribers can use or quote the Hungárián October newsletters in totál or in detail as long as the source is acknowledged.
