German prosecutor sacked over Netzpolitik treason probe

[jimmy olsen]

A charge of treason is inherently political. I'm shocked, shocked to find out that a government is meddling with a treason investigation!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33772316

German prosecutor sacked over Netzpolitik treason probe


3 hours ago

From the section Europe

Germany's justice minister has sacked the country's top prosecutor, who had accused the government of interfering with a treason investigation.

Heiko Maas said he no longer had confidence in Harald Range, dismissing his statements as "incomprehensible".

Prosecutors are investigating whether the Netzpolitik website revealed state secrets in articles about plans to step up state surveillance.

News of the case sparked street protests last week over press freedom.

The outcry put the government on the back foot, with senior officials stressing that Germany was committed to press freedom and casting doubts over whether the articles constituted treason.

 
'Intolerable'

Earlier on Tuesday, in a rare public row between the German judiciary and the state, Mr Range said the government had asked him to drop an independent investigator from the inquiry, who concluded that one of the articles published did amount to a disclosure of a state secret.

The request, said Mr Range, amounted to "an intolerable encroachment on the independence of the judiciary".

He said that while the freedom of press was valuable it was not "limitless".

This political row isn't a story of corruption or sleaze for many Germans. Instead, it is about freedom of speech and whether journalists who exercise that right can be charged with treason and face years in prison.

The investigation sparked national outrage and newspaper headlines screamed that press freedom was in danger. Meanwhile, Netzpolitik received donations of more than €50,000 (£35,000) — nothing like a brush with the law to boost a publication's profile and bank account, Twitter users joked.

Free speech and data protection are hot topics in Germany, partly because of the country's painful experience of totalitarianism during the 20th Century.

So any debate about surveillance and muzzling of the press in Germany is much more than simply an academic discussion of abstract civil liberties. People here are all too aware of the dangers of an overly powerful state.

But the justice minister responded at a news conference in which he called Mr Range's comments "incomprehensible and misleading".

He said his trust in the prosecutor's ability had "suffered lasting damage" and he had requested his dismissal.

Mr Range is 67 and was due to retire next year. Munich's chief public prosecutor, Peter Frank, has been named by Mr Maas as his successor.

The state investigation, into two journalists at Netzpolitik.org, is currently paused. The pair have called for the case to be dropped.

Their first story, in February, alleged that Germany's domestic intelligence agency wanted additional funds to increase its online surveillance programme.

A later article in April concerned the spy agency's efforts to set up a special unit to monitor social networking websites.

Critics have accused Mr Range of double standards, with the prosecutor earlier this year dropping an investigation into alleged tapping of Chancellor Merkel's phone by the the US National Security Agency over lack of evidence.

The claims shocked the public and strained German-American ties.

Media reaction in Germany

The media outcry over the treason investigation started almost immediately. Süddeutsche Zeitung points out that treason is a very loaded word. The law behind it has in the past been used to go after political opponents.

Die Welt says this case highlights unprofessionalism on all sides - calling it "silly season theatre". It says freedom of press, which many say was threatened, has been saved by an alliance of politics, media and society.

But questions about the independence of justice - not a minor issue in a constitutional democracy - remain unanswered. Der Spiegel calls Tuesday's developments a rebellion by the prosecutor, which could only end in his sacking.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung says like any scandal, somebody had to be blamed. The ministers for interior and justice were safe but a fight between Mr Range and the head of the intelligence service culminated in his attack on the justice minister - a move that might seem deliberately designed to provoke his sacking.

[Zanza]

Range's job is explicitly classified as "political civil servant" (similar to deputy ministers, ambassadors or flag officers). He always needs the trust of the minister of justice and can be removed at will. He is not meant to be independent from the executive and is not even considered part of the independent judiciary. He is supposed to do what the justice minister wants him to do. He way overstepped and obviously did not consider the political implications of his actions.

[Syt]

It didn't help that there were contradictory claims from the ministry and him about how events transpired.

Additionally, many commentators pointed out that he had no problems taking directives from government when it came to investigating the NSA spying on Germans as mentioned in the article.

[Martinus]

I'm shocked, shocked that Tim has no idea what he is talking about.

[Zanza]

The real culprit in all of this is the head of Germany's domestic intelligence service. He triggered the original investigation in flagrant violation of our constitutional liberties. I hope they fire him as well.

[The Brain]

Yeah let's put a Frank in charge.

[Syt]

The real culprit in all of this is the head of Germany's domestic intelligence service. He triggered the original investigation in flagrant violation of our constitutional liberties. I hope they fire him as well.

The activities of the Verfassungsschutz of the past, oh, 15 years definitely need some independent vetting and analysis at this point and possibly some major reforming. They haven't really looked good in a very long time.

[Zanza]

Maybe President Gauck could create an independent authority that would look into these activities. They could call it "Gauck Behörde".

[Syt]

 

In Berlin, meanwhile, prosecutors are investigating the interior ministry on charges that they may have interfered to prevent investigation of a crime. Also, federal judges and lawyers are livid that the interior ministry intervened in the treason investigation and that the federal prosecutor was sacked as a result.

This is starting to become a bit meta and satirical.

[Syt]

Interesting commentary in Die Zeit: Range's call for an independent judiciary is good and well ... except that the prosecution isn't independent, by design. Following the 1848 revolution, state prosecutors were created to curb the power of the courts to decide whether or not to prosecute cases. While judges are indeed independent in their decisions, the prosecutors are under oversight of justice ministries.

An example where this was crucial is a recent case in Bavaria where a man was sent to a loony bin indefinitely following a seriously botched prosecution which was only re-examined and re-opened due to public pressure on the Bavarian justice minister who then instructed the prosecution to start over. He came free after over 7 years in a mental institution.