New lustration law to settle certain dilemmas, says PM Gruevski

The new law on lustration will settle certain dilemmas. Provided it is passed by the Parliament, the files of people encompassed by the law will go public on the Internet in a period of 30 days. Citizens will be able to see if someone acted as informer to intelligence services, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said on Friday.

"Now, a different approach is being introduced. Original documents of the files, in which names will not be erased, will be uploaded on the Internet. Moreover, people will be able to look for original documents in the archives. This new stage is intended to settle all dilemmas. The Lustration Commission will continue analyzing the files within the lustration process," the PM stated.

The new law envisages to expand its scope with people who have acquired assets in state-owned enterprises.

"Some of them have been active stakeholders in the society in the 1990s, when in compliance with the law some of the biggest factories were granted to them for symbolic sums. 200 thousand people were laid off and over five billion of capital was privatized. Their role in the process needs to be examined," Gruevski stressed.

Taking a question on the new lustration law, Gruevski said it should prevent innocent people to be found guilty, while the guilty ones to be able to hide behind legal loopholes.

Now, PM Gruevski concluded, the situation will be completely solved. "I believe this is beneficial in an attempt to close a chapter of the transition and of a gloomy regime when many people spied closed relatives or friends for personal gains."