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.

This is an English translation of the original German article.

Today, we received a letter from the Federal Attorney General of Germany confirming ongoing investigations against our reporters Markus Beckedahl, Andre Meister and an „unknown“ source, suspecting us of treason according to the German Penal Code:

Whosoever […] allows a state secret to come to the attention of an unauthorised person or to become known to the public in order to prejudice the Federal Republic of Germany or benefit a foreign power and thereby creates a danger of serious prejudice to the external security of the Federal Republic of Germany, shall be liable to imprisonment of not less than one year.

Until now, we were reported merely as witnesses in the case, but now we shall be held responsible (for treason) like our unknown source(s) – as joint principals.

This is an attack on press freedom! The last charges of treason against journalists in Germany have been a very long time ago, notably the Spiegel Affair of 1962.

From the very beginning, the charges against our alleged source(s) were politically motivated and targeted to crush the neccessary public debate about internet surveillance Post-Snowden. Whistleblowers in the public intrerest need protection, not prosecution as „treason“. Investigating the acclaimed media outlet netzpolitik.org as accomplices in treason charges is a direct attack on freedom of the press, which we thought was outlawed with the Constitutional Court ruling in the Cicero case 2007.

The Federal Attorney General needs to drop the investigations against us and our alleged source(s) and instead investigate and charge out-of-control secret services, that are expanding their mass surveillance without public debate.

We will not let ourselves be intimidated by the investigations and we will continue our critical and indepentent journalism – complete with original documents. Netzpolitik.org is financed by voluntary donations.

As a nicely-timed coincidence, next Wednesday we will receive an award as „Distinct Place“ from „Germany – Land of Ideas“, a joint initiative of the German government and industry – patron is Federal President Joachim Gauck.

Read the original German letter of the Federal Attorney General in full text: