Supo Determined to Keep Tiitinen List Classified

The Finnish Security Police, Supo, is appealing the Helsinki Administrative Court's decision that decrees the "Tiitinen list", a list of suspected Finnish Stasi collaborators, be made public. Last month the Helsinki Administrative Court ruled that Supo must release the list of Finns suspected of having ties to the East German Secret Police during the Cold War to journalists who have requested it. Supo has kept the list secret since it was acquired in 1990 from West Germany. Supo is now preparing a letter of complaint that it will submit to the Supreme Administrative Court by the July 24th deadline. In 2003, the Supreme Administrative Court supported Supo's decision to keep the list classified. The contested paper has been dubbed "the Tiitinen list" after former Supo chief Seppo Tiitinen, now Secretary General of Parliament. Eighteen years ago, he and then-President Mauno Koivisto decided that the document basically consisted of vague hints, not hard evidence, and that publishing it might lead to unnecessary labelling of innocent individuals. The two decided to keep the document secret. However, both Tiitinen and Koivisto said last autumn that they believed the list could now be published. YLE