The National Police Agency has collected nearly 70,000 files related to political repression during the Martial Law era, including many surveillance records and documents on treason cases, in a contribution to the transitional justice process, a source said.
Even before the Transitional Justice Commission was inaugurated on May 31, the National Development Council’s National Archives Administration began collecting political files from the Martial Law era from a number of key government departments and agencies, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Five teams of experts responsible for the collection used big data analytics to search for files using specific keywords, the source said.
In cases where a department was uncertain whether a file was relevant, experts determined whether to include it in the archive, the source said.
The administration expects to complete the collection process by next month, the source said.
Among the agencies working with the administration is the Military Intelligence Bureau, which is responsible for investigating treason cases.
Earlier this year, the bureau completed reviewing more than 80,000 files and discovered more than 2,000 cases of people charged with treason for “colluding with Chinese communists” during the Martial Law era.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) praised the discoveries when she visited the bureau for the first time in March.
About 30 other departments and agencies related to the military, police and special intelligence services have been parsing through archives to uncover documents on political repression, but it is unclear how much progress they have made, a source said.
The police agency is the latest to complete the review process, a member involved in the process said, adding that the majority of its files are stored at the agency’s Taipei headquarters and Liuzhangli branch.
The agency’s headquarters is home to more than 15,000 files, but the Liuzhangli branch houses more than 54,000, the member said, adding that most are surveillance records, national security documents, treason cases and files on political figures.
Organizations have been collecting historic political files since the implementation of the Archives Act (檔案法) and the total amount of documents collected last year would be 600m tall if stacked — 100m taller than Taipei 101, a source said.
With the number of documents expected to increase this year, the administration needs more personnel and resources to complete its work in time, the source said.
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