Reduction of Pensions and Disability Benefits for Former Officials of the Polish People’s Republic (the so-called “dezubekizacja”) as a Form of Repressive Liability

Abstract

Two amendments to the Social Security Act (in 2009 and 2016) reduced the pensions of officers of the state security services who served during the communist era. This raises various doubts as to its compliance with the Constitution, particularly with regard to the punitive nature of the regulation, which falls within the scope of Article 42 of the Constitution and Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Relying on case-law from both the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights, the author puts forward the thesis that reducing pensions earned through service after 1989 constitutes punishment in the constitutional meaning, and that the amendment is therefore a form of collective criminal liability, which is prohibited by Article 42 section 1 of the Constitution and Article 7 ECHR.