The bill involved relevant amendments to an Armenian law regulating the work of the National Security Service (NSS), the former Armenian branch of the Soviet KGB. The pro-government majority in the National Assembly passed it in the first and second readings on Thursday after a heated debate.
The amendments stipulate that archival materials containing sensitive information about security officers, their secret informers and operations can be declassified or destroyed “in a manner defined by the law or other legal acts.”
Parliament deputies representing the main opposition Hayastan alliance voiced serious concerns over this measure, saying that the authorities may intend to hide possible evidence of their illicit actions. They said that the NSS must be allowed to destroy such documents only after declassifying them.
“There is concern that they will be able to carry out some actions and hide information from the public,” one of those lawmakers, Gegham Manukian, insisted on Friday.
Andranik Simonian, a deputy head of the NSS, sought to allay the opposition concerns during Thursday’s parliament debate. He said that his security service has long been allowed to destroy classified documents and that the authorities only want to regulate that power.
Simonian also said that disclosure of outdated state secrets could damage Armenia’s national security. “Therefore, such documents are destroyed without being declassified,” he said.
Vilen Gabrielian, a pro-government lawmaker, likewise downplayed the significance of the government bill. He said that a separate law on state secrets already contains such provisions.
“In the Republic of Armenia, nobody can single-handedly and secretly destroy any document containing confidential information,” Gabrielian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.