DThe Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed that investigators tapped into calls made by members of the Last Generation climate group on their behalf. Due to the initial suspicion of the formation or support of a criminal organization against members of the group, the Munich District Court also issued resolutions on the surveillance of telecommunications. The authority announced this on Sunday when asked by dpa, thereby confirming a corresponding report by the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. These decisions were carried out by the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office on behalf of the Attorney General’s Office. The group and politicians from the SPD and the left criticized the wiretapping.
A spokesman for the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that the resolutions were not directed against journalists. “However, these were affected by the measures due to calls made to the monitored telephone numbers.”
He explained that before and during the monitoring, their proportionality was constantly checked. The Attorney General’s Office had come to the conclusion, just as before the decisions were made, that the measures were proportionate to the allegations. “In this consideration, the constitutional status of freedom of the press was of course weighted accordingly,” said the spokesman.
Bartsch criticizes action as part of the election campaign
The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” had previously reported, citing internal documents, that Bavarian investigators had been monitoring a landline connection with the Berlin area code since October 2022, which the last generation advertised as their official press phone. If journalists called there, they were also monitored unnoticed. At the same time, according to the newspaper’s research, investigators also bugged activists’ private mobile phones.
Representatives of the SPD and the left criticized the wiretapping. “The entire procedure raises questions of proportionality,” said Lars Castellucci, deputy chairman of the interior committee in the Bundestag, the “Tagesspiegel” (Sunday). These questions were not only aimed at the authorities, but also at politicians. “Concerns about the radicalization of the climate protest must be taken seriously,” said the SPD politician: “The criminal offense of a criminal organization must not be an invitation to take action that only drives the accused to become radical.”
Dietmar Bartsch, leader of the left parliamentary group, described the wiretapping operation in the “Tagesspiegel” as part of the Bavarian election campaign. “The wiretapping by the Bavarian public prosecutor’s office is completely inappropriate and shows that it is wrong for public prosecutors to be bound by political instructions. They are being misused for an indecent election campaign,” said Bartsch. The Bavarian Left Party organized a protest action in front of the Bavarian Ministry of Justice on Sunday afternoon.
Police union justifies surveillance
The last generation tweeted about the report on Saturday: “We protest with name and face, publish our plans, accept legal consequences. Nevertheless, the Bavarian LKA logged telephone calls, emails and movement profiles. Even our press phone was monitored. That is absurd!”
The German police union, on the other hand, justified the surveillance. “The wiretapping measures were approved by independent judges and can be checked at any time, also retrospectively and with regard to their usability,” said Federal Chairman Rainer Wendt on Saturday.
