<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The right to know the truth is established as one of the rights constituting the right to effective remedy but in post-Communist countries this right is limited to victims of the Communist regime because of failure to access the files of former secret services on two different grounds: certain victim’s information is protected as personal data on the grounds of privacy rights and certain files are still kept as a classified information. Thus, the article analyses if such limitations in post-Communist countries are compatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The answer is provided using mainly an analysis of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. Lithuania as a case study was chosen for the analysis in a situation where certain files are kept as classified information.</p></abstract>

The right to know the truth is established as one of the rights constituting the right to effective remedy but in post-Communist countries this right is limited to victims of the Communist regime because of failure to access the files of former secret services on two different grounds: certain victim’s information is protected as personal data on the grounds of privacy rights and certain files are still kept as a classified information. Thus, the article analyses if such limitations in post-Communist countries are compatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The answer is provided using mainly an analysis of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. Lithuania as a case study was chosen for the analysis in a situation where certain files are kept as classified information.

The Right to Know the Truth in the Light of the Right to Privacy: The Case of Victims of the Communist Regime in Europe

TalTech Journal of European Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The right to know the truth is established as one of the rights constituting the right to effective remedy but in post-Communist countries this right is...

The Right to Know the Truth in the Light of the Right to Privacy: The Case of Victims of the Communist Regime in Europe

Published Online: Nov 10, 2017

Page range: 284 - 310

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2017-0019

Keywords
access to the files, post-Communist countries, private life, right to know the truth, victim

© 2017 Edita Gruodytė et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Right to Know the Truth in the Light of the Right to Privacy: The Case of Victims of the Communist Regime in Europe

Published Online: Nov 10, 2017

Page range: 284 - 310

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2017-0019

Keywordsaccess to the files, post-Communist countries, private life, right to know the truth, victim

© 2017 Edita Gruodytė et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
access to the files, post-Communist countries, private life, right to know the truth, victim