Files and Privacy: Challenges of Transitional Justice in Slovakia
Files and Privacy: Challenges of Transitional Justice in Slovakia

Summary/Abstract: One of the main responsibilities of the Nation’s Memory Institute (NMI) in Slovakia is the analysis and disclosure of secret police collaborators’ files. This practice however creates a tension between two important rights – the individual right to privacy and the collective right to information. On the one hand, the revelation of the names is perceived as something society has a right to know and it serves as a form of symbolic lustration. On the other hand, the files are incomplete and often offer only a very limited image of a particular person. The activities of the NMI stirred a lot of controversies and subsequently led to a number of court trials concerning the revelation of information, which was labeled as untrue by the affected individuals. This article aims at mapping out these controversies and engaging in the discussion of whether and in which case are these activities fruitful for the society.

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