RIGA - The Latvian Center for Documenting Totalitarian Consequences took a step closer to opening the nation's KGB files on April 17, promising to write an explanatory statement for those listed as former Soviet secret agents by May. Indulis Zalite, head of the Center for Documenting Totalitarian Consequences, told the Baltic News Service that he planned to meet with colleagues and members of Parliament's legal committee to discuss the document's details, such as its length and the definition of KGB files.
"It would not be a big deal to draw up a lengthy explanatory statement... but it is difficult to explain such a complicated matter as this," said Zalite.
On March 7, Parliament's legal committee agreed that the names of both economic and ideological KGB agents should be published in the government newspaper Latvijas Vestnesis.
Included in the publication of approximately 4,500 names will be a disclaimer stating that the list may be incomplete. The explanatory statement would also underline that the list did not distinguish between agents who worked with economic or ideological crimes.
Zalitis has taken on the job of preparing the statement, which the legal committee will put before Parliament for approval. The bill preserving former KGB documentation, which the president earlier returned to lawmakers for revision, will be discussed in Parliament's final reading.
