German Justice Minister Fires Top Prosecutor Over 'Treason' Probe Into Journalists After War Of Words
from the escalation-issue dept
We've written a couple stories already about the ridiculous (and chilling) decision by German prosecutors to investigate the news site Netzpolitik for treason in publishing a couple of stories about plans to expand German surveillance capabilities and powers, with whistleblowers as sources. Things have become fairly heated over the past few days and appear to have just resulted in the country's Justice Minister firing the top prosecutor behind the investigation.On Friday, Justice Minister Heiko Maas said publicly that he didn't think the investigation was appropriate and that he had told the chief federal prosecutor Harald Range exactly that. Following this, Range announced that he was pausing the investigation "for the good of press and media freedom," but then lashed out angrily at Maas, saying that his statements were "an intolerable encroachment on the independence of the judiciary." Details of internal discussions quickly slipped out into the public, after Range had told Maas he was intending to continue the investigation after an "independent" expert he had brought on determined that the documents revealed by Netzpolitik did contain state secrets.
[Range] said the independent expert had agreed that the documents appeared to be state secrets, as asserted by domestic security agency chief Hans-Georg Maassen.And... in response to that, it appears that Maas has fired Range:
Range said he had informed the justice minister of this but was told "to immediately stop" the process of commissioning outside advice.
The chief prosecutor said he had complied, but he added angrily that "to exert influence on an investigation because its possible outcome may not be politically opportune represents an intolerable encroachment on the independence of the judiciary".
"I saw myself obliged to inform the public about this," he added in a statement.
On the broader Netzpolitik case, he said: "The freedom of the press and of expression is a valuable asset.
"But this freedom, including on the Internet, is not limitless. It does not absolve journalists of the duty to comply with the law."
"I have told federal prosecutor Range that my trust in his ability to fulfill the office has suffered lasting damage and therefore in agreement with the Chancellery I will request his retirement today," Maas told reporters in Berlin.Maas also claims that Range's statement about Maas telling him to stop commissioning outside advice was "false."
The whole thing appears to have turned into quite the soap opera. Over the weekend, I had a long discussion about this case with someone quite knowledgeable about German law and legal process, who noted that the situation may not be quite as troubling as some are making it out to be, because all of this needs to happen in public under German law (including the notification of the investigation) unlike the American system, under which a grand jury can proceed with an investigation for years in total secrecy. And while the publicity around this investigation appears to be having an impact on (hopefully) curtailing and ending this investigation, it does not change the fact that the investigation happened in the first place, or the kind of chilling effects that it is clearly creating for journalists and whistleblowers alike.
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Filed Under: constitutional crisis, free press, free speech, germany, harald range, heiko maas, investigation, treason
Companies: netzpolitik
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Re: "independent expert"
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Re: Re: "independent expert"
I wonder if that friend is his CIA contact at the local US embassy.
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Whatever else, Range had no clue about his job description
The "Generalbundesanwalt" is neither a part of the judiciary, nor independent. He is the attorney of the acting government, not of the state, and acts on orders and behalf of the government.
So given his rather delusional statements regarding his job description there is little surprise that the government did not care to keep him in their employ.
That is not to say that particularly this government wouldn't be in sore need of oversight by an independent judiciary. But that's not the job of the government's own legal representative.
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Re: Whatever else, Range had no clue about his job description
Indeed. That alone should've got him fired. That should have incensed members of the judiciary, and how could he then be expected to perform his duties? None of the judiciary would be willing to believe a word he said.
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Re: Whatever else, Range had no clue about his job description
This, by the way, is the same Range that had no problem NOT investigating the BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst, the German equivalent of the CIA) for treason, even though there is pretty hard evidence the BND acted against Germany by colluding with the NSA. And the person who told him not to investigate was of course the very same Maas.
In that case it apparently wasn't "intolerable encroachment".
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commissioning outside advice
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Re:
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Re:
A little more clarity would be helpful. Are you talking about...
* firing
* investigating
* hiring as an independent consultant
or * accuse of treason
... anyone who called Edward Snowden a traitor?
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this is really no different to what is happening to Snowden. he didn't do anything to be treasonable, just that there was far too much going on, by the government and the security forces, under the banner of 'NATIONAL SECURITY', that the public didn't know about, even though the public was the main subject of the surveillance! its the same almost everywhere. the public are being shackled by their own governments, under the 'for terrorism' heading when in actual fact it's to make sure the governments know exactly who out of the ordinary people, is doing what! terrorism isn't going to bring a country to it's knees, but it's own people can. if those in power and control do what the public dont like, but know what is happening, where, who is involved and when because of the surveillance in play, the governments can stomp on any unrest before it even gets off the ground! it turns the nations into full Police States, controlled completely by the wealthy and the powerful, which is why we have had World Wars, but doing it bit by bit, bringing in laws that do the same as bullets but without the bloodshed, even though the devastation is the same still gets to the same point!
i still think that all this started with the purposeful engineered 'Financial Crisis' because the 'remedies' in every country are the same. make sure the wealthy aren't affected at all and the ordinary people are stomped down and made to stay there, paying for everything that happened, even though they weren't involved in the least!
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Soap opera?!?
I would not characterize this as soap opera. I'd call it the German gov't remembering it's still an independent country and re-exerting control over its hirelings including the prosecutor, despite whatever special relationship its BND may feel towards the USA and its NSA.
Bravo Germany. At least the German gov't still believes in freedom of the press, despite everything the USA has done to marginalize and co-opt its MSM. What's next, asylum for Assange and Snowden?
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Re: Soap opera?!?
Uh, no? The German gov't believes in proper timing and choreography of shit storms and Range right-sharked them.
He was supposed to throw the shit at the fan, not stuff it there. Too eager to see this particular batch stick rather than just keep tossing. Fingerpointing instead of double play.
Game called because of naked emperor.
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Let's paraphrase:
Sounds about right.
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Re:
That's when Leon Jaworski steps in and calls Nixon's lawyers liars, and he's not going to tolerate it from them any more.
IFF we're lucky enough to actually have a Leon Jaworski (or Kozinski?) in the house.
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The politicians of the current government very much approve of the criminal investigation which has not been terminated but rather postponed. Now where is the point in postponing an investigation when the judicial questions have already been answered?
Why, an "ongoing" investigation for "Landesverrat" is sufficient cause for nullifying the protections members of the press enjoy for keeping their sources safe.
If anybody was actually worried about the freedom of the press, the investigation for "Landesverrat" would have been cancelled rather than "postponed".
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