Liquidation of part of archive of Georgia's MIA with secret surveillance materials to take place on June 23

On June 23, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia will destroy part of the archive accumulated as a result of secret surveillance over citizens. This decision was taken on Tuesday at a sitting of the special commission for monitoring the destruction.

"The collected materials – more than 12,800 files – were recorded on 54 CDs. They contain conversations of politicians, journalists, the clergy and community leaders," Ucha Nanuashvili, the Georgia's Ombudsman and a member of the monitoring commission, said after the sitting.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that MIA had set up – after the coalition "Georgian Dream" came to power in October 2012 – a special commission to monitor the destruction of the archive, which includes, apart from the Ombudsman, activists of non-governmental organizations.

The date of destruction of the records of the other part of the archive, of political and other nature, is not yet defined; the decision will be made tomorrow.

Some Georgian experts continue advocating the preservation of the archive. In particular, Kakha Kakhishvili has reiterated that these materials should not be liquidated, because they contain information about political process, political parties and their leaders, the "InterpessNews" reports today.