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Czech spy files may ruin life of statesmen
The Czech Republic is to reveal secret police files about alleged Soviet spies, including the names of some current high ranking officials. But is it a valid assumption that if they were willing to sell out 20 or 30 years ago they're still willing to sell out now?... Yeah. I think so. The documents include the names of those who allegedly collaborated with the former Czechoslovakian secret service and they contain the names of both spies and their targets, the Russia Today reported. Almost 19 kilometers of files with details on 140,000 people from the country's former secret police are being kept at the Institute of Totalitarian Regimes and two other locations in the Czech Republic. "Of course we cannot find all secrets of former communist regime in these files," said the institute's director, professor Pavel Zacek. "But it was a very important institution - the secret police - and this institution was so bureaucratic that there's much information and many files than can be used for study". In 1990, then President Vaclav Havel kept the files secret, fearing they would threaten the country's democracy. The Parliament, however decided to make public the documents in 2002. But only last year they were transferred from the Interior Ministry to the Institute of Totalitarian Regimes, giving the public unprecedented physical access to them. Some lawmakers are strongly against the revelation of the files, saying digging up the past in this way could lead to "witch hunts". I'm guessing most of them are worried about their names being found on the list. Posted by: Fred 2008-09-24 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=250842 |