RELEASE OF SECRET POLICE FILES CONTINUES TO CAUSE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRATISLAVA 000230

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/15/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR LO
SUBJECT: RELEASE OF SECRET POLICE FILES CONTINUES TO CAUSE
CONTROVERSY

REF: A. BRATISLAVA 79

B. BRATISLAVA 135

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Scott N. Thayer for reason 1.5(b).

1.(SBU) Parliament authorized the Institute of the National
Memory to publish all communist secret police (StB) files of
"collaborators,8 the highest level of StB informers. The
Institute is in the process of publishing the files on the
Internet by region, starting in eastern Slovakia. An
unlikely coalition of church leaders and politicians recently
advocated ending the file opening process before it reaches
the Bratislava region. The Ecumenical Council of Churches
claims public access to the files is damaging and should be
ended. (NOTE: StB files reveal some church leaders also were
communist collaborators.) Notable MPs like Vladimir Meciar
and Robert Fico indicated they could potentially support the
idea. Lutheran Bishop Julius Filo and the Catholic Church
have opposed the closure. Director of the Institute of the
National Memory, Jan Langos, told emboff that he does not
think the move will gather momentum.


2. (SBU) Speaker of Parliament Pavol Hrusovsky (KDH)
announced that he was registered as a &Candidate for
Cooperation8 with the Communist secret police (StB).
Hrusovsky says that he did not cooperate with the StB and has
emphasized he was not registered as a &collaborator.8
Hrusovsky announced he will sue Markiza television, closely
linked to Minister of Economy Pavol Rusko (ANO),for its
broadcast of Hrusovsky,s admission. Hrusovsky says the
broadcast labeled him a collaborator of the StB. (COMMENT:
Hrusovsky,s distinction between &Candidate for
Cooperation8 and &Collaborator8 is real and legitimate but
easily lost on the public. His lawsuit announcement seems to
be an attempt to bring this distinction to the fore and
preemptively de-emphasize his involvement with the StB. END
COMMENT.)


3. (U) Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the Kosice Technical
University, Jaroslav Jarema, resigned. Jarema previously
refused to resign after it was revealed that the StB
registered him as a collaborator (Ref A). Two Vice Deans
resigned in protest after Jarema refused to give up his
position (Ref B). Jarema finally gave in to sustained
pressure from students and colleagues.


4. (C) Langos publicly stated the Institute does not have the
StB file of Archbishop Jan Sokol (Ref B). He said the
Institute knows his file has not been destroyed. Langos said
in a TV debate that politicians from the KDH and HZDS had
Sokol,s file in their hands in the early nineties; Langos
called on them to tell the public what was in the file. The
Deputy Papal Nuncio suggested to Charge privately that it was
"only natural" there be a file on Sokol, since his
appointment as bishop during the communist era would only
have been tolerated had there been some tacit or implicit
commitment not to attempt to destabilize the regime, but that
this is not the same as being an StB agent.


5. (C) Comment: Controversy over the StB files will continue
for some time. Given the long period of time which
transpired before their release, the acknowledged
disapearance of material from files, and that they remained
in control of intelligence services still largely staffed by
former StB personnel until recently, there is legitimate
concern among many regarding their accuracy and validity. On
the other hand, the files that we have randomly selected to
review on visits to the institute's archive appear to be
carefully kept records that cover long periods and are
unlikely to have been fabricated.
THAYER


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