The German Journalists Association called the development an attack on press freedom, with chairman Michael Konken describing it as an “impermissible attempt to make two critical colleagues silenced”, the AFP reported.
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He had also warned that the inquiry could just be the beginning of attempts to clamp down on leaking of security service documents, claiming that the federal prosecutor was also considering an investigation against the Süddeutsche Zeitung on similar grounds.
It is rare for German prosecutors to investigate journalists for treason, which carries a sentence of one year to life imprisonment.
In articles that appeared on netzpolitik.org in February and April, the two reporters made reference to what is believed to be a genuine intelligence report that had been classified as confidential, which proposed establishing a new intelligence department to monitor the internet, in particular social media networks.
Bfv said the articles were based on leaked documents.
Writers of Netzpolitik (Net politics), which focuses on “digital civil rights” and was in 2014 awarded Germany’s Grimme Online Award, had reacted defiantly to the probe, stating that “we will not be intimidated”.
Britta Pedersen-/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images Markus Beckedahl, founder of Netzpolitik.org, in his office in Berlin on 10 October., 2014.
The German journalists union DJV called on Range to drop the probe entirely.
On Twitter #Landesverrat (#treason) became a top trending topic, and news website Spiegel Online said the accusation was widely seen as a “knighting” of the journalists.
The criminal probe galvanized the German public who are still reeling from reports that the US National Security Agency eavesdropped on both regular German citizens and government officials.
His announcement followed a deluge of criticism and accusations that Germany’s prosecutor had “misplaced priorities”, having failed to investigate with any conviction the NSA spying scandal revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden, and targeting instead the two investigative journalists, Markus Beckedahl and Andre Meister.
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The chair of the parliamentary judicial committee, Renate Kuenast of the Greens party, said the case “infuriates me and is a constitutional disgrace”, adding that “if there were no investigative journalism, we would know nothing”. The most high-profile case occurred in 1962, when an investigation against the weekly magazine Der Spiegel prompted street demonstrations and the resignation of five Cabinet members in protest.
