Andre Meister
Reuters in Berlin
Friday 31 July 2015 02.32 BST
Germany has opened a treason
investigation into a news website a broadcaster said had reported on
plans to increase state surveillance of online communications.German media said it was the
first time in more than 50 years journalists had faced treason charges,
and some denounced the move as an attack on the freedom of the press.
“The federal prosecutor has
started an investigation on suspicion of treason into the articles ...
published on the internet blog Netzpolitik.org,” a spokeswoman for the
prosecutor’s office said.
She added the move followed a
criminal complaint by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Office
for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), over articles about the
BfV that appeared on the website on 25 February and 15 April. It said the articles had been based on leaked documents.
The public broadcaster ARD
reported Netzpolitik.org had published an article on how the BfV was
seeking extra funding to increase its online surveillance, and another
about plans to set up a special unit to monitor social media, both based
on leaked confidential documents.
The website specialises in internet politics, data protection, freedom of information and digital rights issues.
“This is an attack on the
freedom of the press,” Netzpolitik.org journalist Andre Meister,
targeted by the investigation along with editor-in-chief Markus
Beckedahl, said in a statement. “We’re not going to be intimidated by
this.”
Michael Konken, head of the
German press association, echoed the sentiment and called the probe “an
unacceptable attempt to muzzle two critical journalists”.
In 1962 the defence minister,
Franz Josef Strauss, was forced to resign after treason charges were
brought against the news weekly Der Spiegel for a cover story alleging
West Germany’s armed forces were unprepared to defend it against the
communist threat in the cold war.
Beckedahl told the TV network
N24: “I’m torn between feeling like this is an accolade and the thought
that it could end up leading to jail.”
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