A MEMBER of the secret service KYP is under disciplinary investigation after files containing surveillance information were found in his possession. The information was about politicians and ordinary citizens who had attended political gatherings. It was not exactly classified information, as it was obtained from public meetings that were covered by the media at the time can still be found on websites.
However, the existence of the files, containing documents, video footage and photographs and the fact that these were found in the possession of a KYP sergeant raised many questions. Why was KYP keeping records of the identity of people attending political meetings? Who had given orders for these records to be kept? Why were the files taken by the sergeant to his home? Had he received orders to remove them from the KYP offices because the new command might not approve of this type of surveillance?
According to all reports, it was low-level surveillance which did not require special intelligence-gathering skills or knowledge to carry it out. Any party-worker could have downloaded pictures and reports on political gatherings from web-sites and put them in a file for future use. Presumably, some minister or high-ranking official thought that trained KYP officers could perform this task better than a party worker.
It has been implied that the information gathering took place during the Christofias presidency, but there has been no official confirmation and AKEL, like the rest of the political parties, condemned the surveillance of politicians, describing it as “unacceptable”. It would certainly not come as a surprise if this activity took place under the previous government, many of the leading members of which had received their political schooling in the police states of the Warsaw Pact.
Then again it would not have been the first government to use KYP to keep tabs on its political opponents. Most governments have used the secret service in this way over the years, which is why the universal outrage expressed by all the political parties sounded a bit forced. But DISY vice-president George Georgiou was right to ask for an investigation that would reveal the identities of the politicians and groups that were being watched and the period in which the surveillance took place.
Publicity would be a step in the right direction as it might deter future governments from using KYP in this unacceptable way. This type of surveillance is innocuous, but it is still an abuse of power and a violation of personal freedom which could lead to worse abuses in the future. This is why it needs to be made public. Only then might the politicians and the KYP top brass which they appoint realise that the sole responsibility of the secret service is national security, not the activities of political opponents of the government.
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