ZAGREB, Nov 13 (Hina) - The Interior Ministry does not make access to some 650 Constitutional Order Protection Service (SZUP) files, which have recently been made available to persons who were wiretapped and under surveillance,
conditional on said persons' consent to destroy the files, the Ministry said on Tuesday. "The Interior Ministry will respect the will of persons who were tapped and tailed and it will be their decision if the files are to be destroyed or not," spokeswoman Zinka Bardic said. Some persons, upon seeing the files, agreed to their destruction, while others objected, she added, claiming there was yet another group which did not wish to see the files but wanted to be present at their destruction. Under Interior Minister Sime Lucin's decision on the SZUP files, the persons to which the files refer are allowed to see them on condition that they refrain from making the content publi
ZAGREB, Nov 13 (Hina) - The Interior Ministry does not make access
to some 650 Constitutional Order Protection Service (SZUP) files,
which have recently been made available to persons who were
wiretapped and under surveillance, conditional on said persons'
consent to destroy the files, the Ministry said on Tuesday.
"The Interior Ministry will respect the will of persons who were
tapped and tailed and it will be their decision if the files are to
be destroyed or not," spokeswoman Zinka Bardic said.
Some persons, upon seeing the files, agreed to their destruction,
while others objected, she added, claiming there was yet another
group which did not wish to see the files but wanted to be present at
their destruction.
Under Interior Minister Sime Lucin's decision on the SZUP files,
the persons to which the files refer are allowed to see them on
condition that they refrain from making the content public, protect
the interests of other persons mentioned in the files, and sign
their consent to the destruction thereof.
After the files were opened earlier this month, journalists with
Feral Tribune, several associations for the protection of human
rights, and the chairwoman of parliament's national security
committee, Djurdja Adlesic, have protested against the destruction
after the persons mentioned in the files have seen them.
Nacional's journalists are against the destruction as well,
maintaining the files could serve as evidence in the trial of former
Interior Minister Ivan Penic and former SZUP head Ivan Brzovic.
Three years ago, five Nacional journalists sued the two over
illegal shadowing and tapping. The case is dormant due to Penic's MP
immunity.
The Interior Ministry has opened some 650 files which the SZUP kept
since Croatia gained independence in the early 1990s up until the 3
January 2000 change of government. Among the files are some 120
referring to journalists.
The files which have been opened are the ones the Interior Ministry
deems do not endanger national security. These were categorised as
"political violence" and "internal enemies."
Bardic refuted claims that the Interior Ministry was protecting
some SZUP employees' illegal activities by presenting data on filed
charges, disciplinary proceedings and personnel changes at the
SZUP.
Between January 2000 and June 2001, abuse of authority charges have
been pressed against seven SZUP employees and disciplinary
proceedings taken against 13. During the decade-long rule of the
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), charges were filed against only
three employees and disciplinary proceedings for seven.
(hina) ha sb