Abstract
ABSTRACT The article is devoted to a relatively new pan-European phenomenon – memorial (or memory) laws, through which states exercise their politics of memory. Memorial laws pose a contradictory question about the principles and limits of the legal governance of history within democratic societies. The article concludes that the use of memorial laws with criminal sanctions to protect the ‘glory of the past’ and ‘national dignity’ is a violation of freedom of speech as there is no difference between being punished for criticising a state’s current policy or its past wrongdoing. Based on concrete examples of recent memory battles, the article reveals a potential danger of memorial laws with criminal sanctions for human rights, democracy and interstate relations.
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