Treason charge for spy leaks writers

Two journalists have been charged with treason after publishing information about Germany’s intelligence agency.

Earlier in 2015, Markus Beckedahl and Andre Meister are alleged to have leaked details about surveillance technology used by one of Germany’s spy agencies.

Previously, charges had been brought against the sources of the material.

In Germany the maximum punishment is 15 years in prison, though severe cases could carry a life sentence.

Treason charge

A spokesman for the German attorney general confirmed to the BBC that Mr Beckedahl and Mr Meister had been charged on suspicion of treason.

Mr Beckedahl told the BBC that the charges relate to two articles published on Netzpolitik.org in February and April.

“In the spring we had two articles about the interior secret service getting more resources for building up mass surveillance and tracking online users on social networks and we also published some original documents showing they are getting more resources,” he said.

One of the articles discussed plans by the German domestic secret service to monitor online chats on services including Facebook.

Mr Beckedahl, editor-in-chief of Netzpolitik, added that until he was charged, he believed that he and Mr Meister, who authored the stories, would be protected by press freedom laws in Germany as only their anonymous sources had been charged.

‘Press freedom’

“It’s violating my press freedom and it’s an act of intimidation against our work,” he said.

“We’re focusing on human rights and especially the topics on mass surveillance.

“It seems that our work isn’t liked by the government and now they are fighting us with the courts.”

There are two categories of treason in Germany, “Hochverrat”, which regards external attacks on the state and “Landesverrat”, which implies internal espionage against the state.

The charges against Mr Beckedahl and Mr Meister fall under the category of Landesverrat.