Reply #19: Épuration légale [View All]

... Approximately 300,000 cases were investigated, reaching into the highest levels of the collaborationist Vichy government. More than half were closed without any indictment. In 1944-51, official courts in France sentenced 6,763 people to death (3,910 in absentia) for treason and other offenses. Only 791 executions were actually carried out, including those of Pierre Laval, Joseph Darnand, and the journalist Robert Brasillach. Far more common was “National degradation,” a loss of civil rights, which was meted out to 49,723 people ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89puration_l%C3%A9gale

There's nothing wrong with releasing old records, but France did make some moves towards accountability after the liberation, and when reading old investigatory records one probably wants additional verification of accusations in them before taking further action