The names of spies and informants from the communist era in Bulgaria are to be placed on the Internet in an attempt to increase openness about the country's past.
Since 1997, the law has allowed past activities of ministers, MPs, senior officials and media bosses to be checked against archives. But Bulgarians will now be able to access extensive communist-era data with the click of a mouse.
The new law will reveal the names of former "agents and informants of the secret service and the civil and military counter-espionage service", and those who profited from the collaboration of their relatives.
The names of all candidates standing in municipal, national or presidential election whose past includes espionage will be posted on the Internet for the public to see.
However, the names of those who work for current state information services will not be published unless they "participated in acts of violence or repression".
Names will also not be posted if to do so would "threaten national security, the life or liberty of other people," says the text of the legislation. A total of 23 names, including those of 14 MPs, have been published due to the 1997 law.
But rooting out all those who spied is an impossible task, as nearly half of the secret service archive was destroyed when communism collapsed, Bulgarian officials say.
AFP