Law Opens Up Secret Files on Public Figures
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From Times Wire Reports
Parliament gave final approval to a hotly disputed bill granting researchers and journalists access to the East German spy files on prominent public figures, overturning legislation passed to protect former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
Conservatives tried unsuccessfully to block the legislation in the upper house. The new law in effect overturns a federal court ruling in Kohl’s favor that said a public figure had to give permission for release of files kept by the Communist-era Stasi secret police.
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