Swiss get access to police files
01 November 1992
The Swiss parliament decided on 21 September 1992 to allow its citizens access to their security service (Staatsschutz) files as of January 1993 (see Statewatch, vol 2 no 4). Those who have applied for access (some 350,000 persons, 40,000 of whom discovered they indeed had a file) will receive a letter asking them whether they want to see their file and for what reasons
Since the Swiss discovered in 1989 that the Bundespolizei (Bupo) held Staatsschutz files on 900,000 individuals, campaigners have unsuccessfully tried to close down all Staatsschutz activities. Since mid-1990 the Bupo opened some 30,000 new files, at least 3,000 of which concerned persons of Arab origin whose data were supplied by Israeli intelligence during the Gulf crisis. The new files, together with some 5 to 10% of the old files that the Bupo claims it still needs, will be converted into a computerized database called Staatsschutz- Informations system (ISIS).
The process of releasing and sanitizing the files will be coordinated by the "Delegierten fr Staatsschutzakten" Mr. Rene Bacher, a judge who is considered liberal and independent. He will be assisted by a staff of 30, mainly jurists from the Justice and Police department and the Treasury department. It will be up to them to implement the two reasons on which information can be withheld: damage to third persons and legitimate interest of the state. Although no information on informers will be released, several sources have been identified recently, such as a university professor who reported his students to the police and a woman who let Bupo officers into a neighbour's house because she disliked the Karl Marx posters on the wall.
The investigators face a problem as they will have to rely on the only two Bupo employees left who know the way in the paper labyrinth. If a dossier seems to have disappeared, it is unlikely ever to be found again. However all the files will be kept in an archive to be released in fifty years. Of the 105 citizens who have demanded compensation for damages 2 have been granted, 35 were turned down and the others are pending.
Critics such as Catherine Weber of the "Kommitee Schluss mit dem Schnffelstaat" (Committee to close down the snooping state) emphasize that the security police is still in business and will become more powerful by using new data processing techniques. The committee claims a number of shadow archives have been either destroyed or withheld such as the "Traitor index", which held 500 mainly leftists citizens who were to be interned in a case of national emergency. The committee also believes international pressure by the CIA, Israeli and South African intelligence was the reason the Swiss government took so long to come to a decision. Reportedly, the CIA Chief of Station had a heated argument with Bundesrat Mr. Arnold Koller in which he announced all exchange of intelligence would be stopped if the Swiss government released classified information.
Former Bupo chief Mr Peter Huber, who was sent on leave in February 1990 in relation to the security files affair, has been appointed vice-president and chief of the legal department in the Bundesamt fur Auslanderfragen (federal bureau of foreigners affairs). Mr Hans-Rudolf Strasser, former chief of military intelligence, will go on early retirement. Mr Strasser was sent on leave on 11 December 1990 after it was revealed that he had withheld information on his membership in the secret underground organization P-26, the Swiss "Gladio".
Kommittee Schluss mit dem Schuffelstaat, Postfach 6948, 3001 Berne, Switzerland.