A treason investigation into two journalists who reported that the German state planned to boost online surveillance has been suspended by the country’s prosecutor general following protests by leading voices across politics and media.
Advertisement
Markus Beckedahl, who faces treason charges with his colleague Andre Meister, said Tuesday that he expects the proceedings – which have been put on hold pending the outcome of the external review – to be relaunched shortly.
German lawyers have now demanded the abolition of the charge of treason for journalists.
The last time such charges were brought against a journalist in Germany was the so called “Spiegel Affair” in 1962, when the editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel was accused of treason by then defense minister Franz Josef Strauss for publishing secret documents about the German defense forces. A court later ruled in its favour and the defence minister stepped down, in what was seen as a victory for democracy and cemented its reputation for investigative journalism.
Wolfgang Kubicki, of the pro-business FDP party, also said he found it “disconcerting” that Range had ignored the NSA allegations while choosing to pursue the journalists. The justice ministry will instead investigate whether the material published was classified as secret in the first place.
Two men from the Netzpolitik.org blog have given the world an opportunity to find out what could have happened to Julian Assange and Edward Snowden had they been German citizens.
Web site Netzpolitik.org, which covers digital rights points, stated Thursday it was notified by federal prosecutors of the probe towards its employees and an unidentified supply over two stories revealing authorities’ plans to broaden surveillance of on-line communication.
Initially, the investigation targeted only Netzpolitik’s unknown source for the documents, for revealing state secrets.
Much of the German media called the decision an attack on the freedom of the press.
Advertisement
“I think it is very important for journalists and the media in Germany to know that press freedom is a top priority for us, and that we respect and protect it in everything we do as a government”, Altmaier told ZDF television. Germans, fiercely protective of their privacy, believe the public interest is served when information about surveillance is disclosed, not concealed.
