15.6. 2007
Author: ČTK
ČeskéNoviny.cz (Czech Republic)
Vienna - The Czech Republic should follow the example of Cambodia when dealing with its past, Gerhard Zeihsel, head of the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft in Austria, said today.
Zeihsel stressed that a new penal code was passed in Cambodia in recent days. Though with a several-year delay, it still allowed for the prosecution of the Khmer Rouge leaders from the 1970s, he added.
The developments in Cambodia should encourage the Czech Republic to cancel the 1946 amnesty law, Zeihsel said.
Under the legislation, all crimes committed on Sudeten Germans in 1945 were not punishable.
Zeihsel demands that "all the legislation be cancelled so that all perpetrators of the genocide on Sudeten Germans could be made accountable for their acts."
According to Czech authorities, the law amnestied the violations of the law arising from the anti-Nazi resistance and only partly related to the time of post-war deportation of Germans from Czechoslovakia.
If the law were cancelled, all anti-Nazi acts made within the resistance would automatically become illegal, which is unacceptable, Czech lawyers said.
The regime of Khmer Rouge, ruling in Cambodia in 1975-1979, killed some 1.7 to 3 million people.
Last year, the Cambodian government decided to establish a special international tribunal to try genocide crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge. It is to start working next year.
Some three million ethnic Germans were deported from post-war Czechoslovakia and their property was confiscated. Their leaders say that serious atrocities were committed during the transfer, which has been largely denied by Czech authorities.
Zeihsel stressed that a new penal code was passed in Cambodia in recent days. Though with a several-year delay, it still allowed for the prosecution of the Khmer Rouge leaders from the 1970s, he added.
The developments in Cambodia should encourage the Czech Republic to cancel the 1946 amnesty law, Zeihsel said.
Under the legislation, all crimes committed on Sudeten Germans in 1945 were not punishable.
Zeihsel demands that "all the legislation be cancelled so that all perpetrators of the genocide on Sudeten Germans could be made accountable for their acts."
According to Czech authorities, the law amnestied the violations of the law arising from the anti-Nazi resistance and only partly related to the time of post-war deportation of Germans from Czechoslovakia.
If the law were cancelled, all anti-Nazi acts made within the resistance would automatically become illegal, which is unacceptable, Czech lawyers said.
The regime of Khmer Rouge, ruling in Cambodia in 1975-1979, killed some 1.7 to 3 million people.
Last year, the Cambodian government decided to establish a special international tribunal to try genocide crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge. It is to start working next year.
Some three million ethnic Germans were deported from post-war Czechoslovakia and their property was confiscated. Their leaders say that serious atrocities were committed during the transfer, which has been largely denied by Czech authorities.
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