Security Police will not release Stasi list

Halonen remains non-committal on topic

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Hannu Moilanen, deputy director of the Security Police (SUPO), said on Thursday that SUPO will not release the so-called "Tiitinen's List", comprising Finns believed to have had contacts with the East German espionage agency Stasi.
      Moilanen told Helsingin Sanomat that the issue will not be discussed further, as the decision to keep the list confidential was made a long time ago.
      The list, named after former SUPO director Seppo Tiitinen, is believed to contain the names of 18 people in Finland who are thought to have awakened the interest of Stasi operatives. The names were supplied by the West German intelligence service in 1990.
      There have been a number of calls to make the list public. Seppo Tiitinen himself, as well as former President Mauno Koivisto and the chairs of Finnish Parliamentary party groups, have added their voices to those urging the release of the information.
      Speculation and colourful conspiracies theories have been rife over the identities of those on the list, but it is not thought that it contains significant political figures.
      In any event, these are not people who appear in the so-called Rosenholz files, which list individuals whom Stasi had recruited or were grooming as sources. Hence the value of the Tiitinen list is questionable at best.
     
Moilanen says that no change has taken place in the original conditions that led to keeping the lists confidential. Protection of privacy and the conditions set by the international community continue to be the reasons for keeping the documents a secret.
      By the "conditions set by the international community", Moilanen refers to the fact that international intelligence services exchange information on the condition that the information is not passed on.
     
Finnish President Tarja Halonen does not want to take a stand on the issue of releasing the Stasi list.
      Answering a reporter's question on Thursday while taking part in the World Economic Forum in China, Halonen recognised that the views expressed by Seppo Tiitinen, and ex-President Koivisto are "weighty opinions" on the matter.
      As Halonen sees it, the President should not take sides on the question, because "the Security Police is not the President's police force", and non-interference by the President is "a principle of the rule of law".
      Asked if Halonen thought that her own name might be on the list, she answered "according to information that has been in the public, it is not".


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Interior Minister wary of publication of Security Police Stasi list (4.9.2007)
  Court rejects Alpo Rusi call to publish Stasi lists (26.4.2007)
  Alpo Rusi accuses Security Police of political conspiracy (16.9.2003)
  Ex-President Koivisto urges publication of Security Police Stasi list (3.9.2007)
  Former President Ahtisaari testifies in Alpo Rusi case (29.8.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat