The Soviet and Russian authorities have never said anything about the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. In general, transparency and freedom of information are not, to say it cautiously, a priority of Russian policy. But civil society is tolerating this attitude less and less. For some years now, there is even a statutory and constitutionally stipulated provision that government documents are open after 30 years. There are, however, numerous exceptions
What I want to know from Russian archives concerns the period of the Soviet Union, well past this 30 years limit. For this period, theoretically from 1917 on, the law stipulates that these files are open, unless the authority which has stamped these papers secret in the past wants to keep them secret in the future. Then the citizens, journalists and historians can ask for a decision of a commission whose members come from different governmental offices. And if they also say "njet", they can go to a court.
This is exactly what I want to start in Russia. For this purpose, I gave a power for attorney to a legal team in St. Petersburg, Team 29. They chose the number 29, because Article 29 of the Russian Constitution guarantees transparency and freedom of information.
