Irina Malenko: “Witch hunt” starts in Netherlands

According to columnists of Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, relatives of about 14,000 (of 40,000) Dutch policemen will be checked on in the nearest months regarding their “suspicious relations.” The policemens' neighbors will also be included in the number of people checked on. Among the checked on relatives, are parents, children, brothers and sisters, and husbands and wives. Mostly, attention will be paid to the relatives of the policemen who have access to “sensitive information.” The security examination will be comprehensive. If as a result of the examination, some “unwanted relations” are found, the policemen having dubious relatives will be transferred to other jobs. Depending on the post, the policemens’ relations will be examined with different levels of attention. The most important workers will be examined by Dutch Internal Security Service, and the less important workers will be examined by the police themselves. The list of the policemen being investigated will be approved of by Internal Minister Klaas de Vries.

Already last year, while taking on new policemen, their close relations were carefully examined. As a result, some of them were not hired; however, Dutch legislation interdicts such practice.

Irina Malenko PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Vera Solovieva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/01/14/35545.html