BERLIN
The German government on Monday distanced itself from a treason investigation into two journalists who published secret details of the BfV domestic intelligence service.
Markus Beckedahl and Andre Meister, who write for the political blog Netzpolitik, in February published the agency’s plans to monitor social media in Germany.
When news of the investigation broke last week there was a public backlash that culminated in a 2,000-strong rally in Berlin on Sunday.
“Press freedom is a high value,” Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz said at a Berlin press conference. “Chancellor Merkel believes that one has to adopt a very sensitive approach when it comes to press freedom.”
Justice Minister Heiko Maas had already criticized the probe by federal prosecutors and Attorney General Harald Range suspended the investigation on Friday.
However, BfV President Hans-Georg Maassen has defended the inquiry, telling the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that is was "necessary to take judicial steps against publications which used the confidential or top secret documents of the BfV.”
