The future of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, which
oversees the files of the communist-era secret police, is under threat, its
recently appointed director Zdeněk Hazdra said on Tuesday. Speaking at a
Senate hearing prior to the election of a new Institute board, Mr. Hazdra
said the agency was suffering from internal divisions and a lack of
interest on the part of the public. The Institute for the Study of
Totalitarian Regimes was set up by a right-wing government in 2007 and has
come under pressure since the left have gained the upper hand in the
Senate, which selects its board. Critics say it has been poorly managed and
unprofessional in the digitisation of historical materials.