Otvaranje dosijea tajnih službi u Srbiji
Opening of the Intelligence Files in Serbia

Summary/Abstract: The positive outcome in the court proceeding for rehabilitation of victims of the authoritarian regimes to a great extent depends on the availability of data entered in files and other documents of the repressive mechanisms of these regimes. All those documents present genuine "archives of repression" and the first part point to the importance of identifying institutions which may possess documents on repression and are of importance for the success of rehabilitation. The second part of the article places emphasis on the files of intelligence services which had a task of preventing anything that may endanger the authoritarian regime or jeopardise the false picture of the regime. All those who were considered political and ideological opponents of the regime either living in the country ("internal enemies") or had escaped abroad ("enemy migration") were under the attack of those services. Information from files were used for undertaking repressive actions, including show trial court proceedings and deprivation of life, freedom and other rights without judicial and administrative decisions; thus, those files are a key part of the "repression archives" and are of greatest importance for rehabilitation purposes. The opening of the secret service files (presented in the third part of the article) has also other objectives, which are very significant for the process of facing and overcoming the legacy of the past, as well as for the successful reform of secret services. However, the time from the year 2000 was not used in Serbia for the aforementioned process; instead of decisive action the new government aspired to delay the whole process by justifying it with other problems and difficulties which always existed. The strategy, experienced by some transitional countries is not the one that ensures rapid economic, social, political and moral progress of Serbia.

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