History is Repeating – German Government Launches Investigation of Journalists for Treason

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If it were up to the Federal Attorney General and the President of the German Domestic Security Agency, two of our reporters would soon be in prison for at least two years. Today, we were officially informed about investigations against our Markus Beckedahl, Andre Meister and an unknown“ party. The accusation: Treason.

– From Netzpolitik.org:  Suspicion of Treason“: Federal Attorney General Announces Investigation Against Us In Addition To Our Sources

Widespread outrage across Germany is erupting following the revelation that the nation’s Attorney General has launched an investigation into treason charges for two journalists working for Netzpolitik.

The charge is treason. The crime is journalism.

We learn from the Guardian that:

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. 

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.

“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.”

Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing accurately notes the shadiness and hypocrisy of it all:

The German prosecutors who dropped all action against the US and UK spy-agencies who trampled German law and put the whole nation, up to and including Chancellor Angela Merkel, under surveillance, have decided instead to open an investigation into the bloggers at Netzpolitik, who revealed the wrongdoing.

Netzpolitik are an important source of independent news, analysis and campaigning for privacy and freedom in Germany. This is a genuinely shameful moment for the nation. We stand with Netzpolitik and its supporters around the world.

While this is horrible news, there is a silver lining. The main reason the German government feels a need to go overtly fascist, is because they are scared shitless. They are scared of the truth, of the light and of their own citizens. Such a corrupt and compromised government can’t last very long.

Additionally, we should commend the bravery of the journalists involved. As reported by the Intercept:

Asked if Netzpolitik would continue to report using materials gained from whistleblowers, Meister replied, “That’s our job, so of course we will continue to report about publicly relevant information, which obviously includes information from whistleblowers from state and private entities. As a matter of fact, just [yesterday] we have exposed the new ‘cyber strategy’ of the German Federal Military ‘Bundeswehr’ about offensive cyber attacks.”

“If anything, all the support is showing that we must be doing the right thing, so we will continue what we do and maybe even step up the pace. … To paraphrase a Google engineer after yet another NSA leak: ‘Fuck those guys!’”

Bravo. These guys deserve our complete and total support.

For related articles, see:

Standard & Poor’s Warns on Germany as Anti-Euro Political Party Soars in Popularity

Video of the Day – “End the Fed” Rallies are Exploding Throughout Germany

Martin Luther King: “Everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was Legal”

In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

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7 thoughts on “History is Repeating – German Government Launches Investigation of Journalists for Treason”

  1. Germany is on it’s back before the Zionist state, and as such has lost any position o0f credibility it might have had in the past.The word whoose (coward) comes to mind.

    Reply
  2. DO NOT BELIEVE IT!
    IT IS A SHOW!

    A politician of the Green Party – from the higher ranges – founds a company for communication. He works for big companies and politics. This company founds and pays for a policy blog, very professional and a lot of employees – and writes on this blog
    – we need no cooperation offers
    https://netzpolitik.org/impressum/

    It is an ideological closed entity. This blog gets awards from mainstream and agitates against Putin (which is in the interest of the Green Party). And then it runs into problems with the General Prosecutor and suddenly all mainstream media start to defend them and especially a lot of Green Politicians.

    To sum it up: This blog is not alternative nor neutral, it is a mouthpiece for the Green Party. The whole stunt is to make this blog well known and above all suspicion.

    This is a short translation from:

    http://projekt-wahrheit.de/alle_artikel/politik/netzpolitik.org_und_der_landesverrat_alles_nur_show.html

    Reply
  3. The outrage is so widespread in Germany, that I heard about this on your blog first, and I do read mainstream and alternative German news on an almost daily basis.
    The sad thing is that the German public loves their government über alles and while there are some quibbles over refugees, the euro crisis and if families should get benefits for raising their kids at home (spoiler: they shouldn’t, according to about 80% of politicians and 100% of mainstream media), the current german government is probably more popular than Hitler before he lost the war.

    Reply
  4. “Everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was Legal”
    Yes that’s why the Church refused to oppose Hitler’s strategy, because he had legally been chosen by the people.
    Indeed any “democratically” chosen leader is a “god-sent” person, who cannot do anything illegal….

    Reply

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