Edathy affair

The Edathy affair is the term used to describe the political and legal processes as well as the disputes and debates that were triggered at the end of January 2014 by a preliminary investigation against the SPD politician Sebastian Edathy .

The subject of the investigation was the suspicion that Edathy had obtained criminally relevant child pornographic material . Edathy resigned from the Bundestag on February 7, 2014 . On February 8, 2014, Edathy announced that he had decided to do so for health reasons. Gabriele Groneberg moved up for him in the German Bundestag.

The affair turned into a government crisis after it became known that the SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel had been informed of the ongoing investigations by the then Federal Minister of the Interior, Hans-Peter Friedrich ( CSU ), in October 2013, during the coalition soundings after the 2013 federal election was. Friedrich then resigned from his new post as Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture on February 14, 2014 after only two months in office . Edathy emerged from the affair politically damaged, but he was not convicted and therefore has no criminal record.

Sebastian Edathy (2013)

Investigations and house searches

2010 to 2012

After the international Operation Spade (“Spaten”), directed against child pornography , began in Toronto in autumn 2010 , the Canadian investigators handed over the data collected from customers from Germany to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) via Interpol in October 2011 . At the BKA, the 800-name customer list was not roughly checked until January 10, 2012; With this general intention, the name of a leading BKA official was found on the list in February 2012. The case of the top official, who worked for years as a group leader in the SO - Serious and Organized Crime Department - was handed over by the BKA to the Mainz public prosecutor in February 2012; According to Spiegel Online , the material that the Mainz public prosecutor had seized from the BKA man was "- unlike Edathy - undoubtedly illegal and criminally relevant". At the end of 2012, the BKA official accepted a penalty order and paid between 10,000 and 20,000 euros to avoid a trial. A year later, shortly before the end of 2013, the officer resigned and went into early retirement. He had worked in the department that received the data from Operation Spade . According to the BKA President Jörg Ziercke , the authority began processing the data in June 2012.

In a statement, the BKA considered the fact that the name Edathys was not taken into account in the first examination to be “plausible”, since the first Bundestag NSU investigative committee with chairman Edathy was only set up on January 26, 2012, “so good two weeks after the general intention of the data on January 10, 2012. Edathy was not in the focus of public perception at this point in time. ”However, Edathy was chairman of the interior committee of the German Bundestag from 2005 to 2009 , which is also important for the BKA. In addition, Edathy previously visited the BKA in Wiesbaden at least once (in May 2007). According to information from Spiegel-Online, he also visited the department responsible for investigations in the area of child pornography, the SO 12 department. In addition, Christian Hoppe, head of section SO 12, had to testify in May 2012 in the NSU investigation committee headed by Edathy. Hoppe had previously headed the BKA department from 2006 to 2009, in which the Ceska investigation group was based. The Ceska investigators dealt with the so-called Ceska series of murders of small businesses with a migration background, which was still unresolved at the time .

On December 6, 2012, the mailbox in Edathy's constituency office was destroyed by an explosive device. As a result, officials at the BKA asked Edathy's name in the internal case processing system. This query also took place in August and September 2013 when it came to the threats to the protection person Sebastian Edathy. A case number and the subject "possession / acquisition of child / youth pornography - OP Selm" were displayed, whereupon the clerks did not ask any further questions in the responsible department SO 12.

2013

On October 15, 2013, the BKA informed the 16 state criminal investigation offices as well as the Lower Saxony interior minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) about investigations against several people. On October 15, a Nienburg police officer recognized the explosiveness of the case and informed the BKA by telephone that Edathy, a member of the Bundestag, was on the list, and BKA President Ziercke was informed. As a result, the head of the Hanover public prosecutor's office , Jörg Fröhlich, learned of the investigation. The lock file was there on November 5, 2013, to the Chief Public Prosecutor Thomas Klinge.

On November 14, 2013, the Toronto police announced at an internationally acclaimed press conference that Operation Spade had struck a worldwide strike against child pornography . Among other things, it was announced in this context that there had been a raid on the Azov Films company two years earlier in Toronto . The Canadian police investigation into Azov Films was closed in 2005 after the material distributed at the time was not found to be illegal. They were only resumed in October 2010, when Azov turned out to be a buyer of films that a karate teacher from Germany who was arrested in Romania in August 2010 had made since 2007. According to the public prosecutor's office, between October 2005 and June 2010, Edathy ordered a total of 31 films and photo sets of naked boys between the ages of nine and 14 nine times from the online shop of a Canadian company; according to information from the NDR policy magazine Panorama 3 , the name of the company is 4P5P .

On November 27, 2013 Edathy commissioned the Berlin lawyer for criminal law and media law Christian Noll with his case. The lawyer emailed the head of the Hanover public prosecutor's office and asked for a confidential interview. At the public prosecutor's office, Noll is said to have spoken to a representative who was not informed about the investigation into the Edathy case. The lawyer had also asked other public prosecutor's offices in Berlin and Lower Saxony about a possible "trial against Mr. Edathy for child pornography".

2014

On January 28, 2014, proceedings against Edathy were officially registered with the Hanover Public Prosecutor's Office.

On February 8, 2014 Edathy told his mandate waiver on his website: "I have decided for reasons of health to lay down my parliamentary mandate." Then searched police and prosecutors Hannover on 10 and 12 February 2014, the apartment and the in Nienburg located office Edathys, as they assumed that his political immunity as a MP had expired. The responsible judge at the Hanover District Court had noted in the search warrant that “in the Edathy case, a final assessment was needed to determine whether individual recordings would include the term child pornography”.

The Nienburger Zeitung Die Harke published two photos of the house search on February 11, including a picture from the politician's apartment. The Hanover Public Prosecutor's Office and the Lower Saxony Minister of Justice Antje Niewisch-Lennartz distanced themselves from the publication of these images. The Lower Saxony Association of Journalists stated in a tweet that the published photo from Edathy's apartment was "problematic in terms of press law". But there were also other assessments - for example from the Federal Association of the German Association of Journalists , who stated three days later: “Overall, the publication of the apartment photos appears to be (still) justifiable, even if the German jurisdiction is always surprising in such questions can provide. "

The Hanover public prosecutor's office announced on February 14, 2014 that, according to their findings, Edathy had ordered material on the Internet that was “at the limit of what the judiciary understands by child pornography”. Jörg Fröhlich, the head of the prosecution, stated that the results of the searches so far had been “rather meager”. With regard to the images allegedly ordered by Edathy, he “has so far assumed that the criminal liability threshold is still just below the threshold”. According to Fröhlich, the BKA classified the image material allegedly ordered by Edathy in an initial evaluation as “not clearly child pornographic” or “not indexed”. The BKA notes on one film: “Without evidence”. Fröhlich also stated that Edathy's IT data had been backed up in the Bundestag and that his parliamentary office had been sealed .

A spokesman for the Bundestag contradicted the latter on the same day; There was neither a backup of the data nor a sealing of Edathy's offices. The public prosecutor's office only obtained the necessary court order three days later, on February 17, 2014, and handed it over on February 18, after Edathy's successor had already moved into the office.

Edathy repeatedly denied the acquisition and possession of "child pornography" and announced legal action. On February 17, 2014, Edathy's attorney filed a complaint with the Lower Saxony Ministry of Justice against the investigating public prosecutor's office. In a conversation with Der Spiegel on February 23, 2014, Edathy stated that he had received death threats several times and therefore did not want to return to Germany for the time being.

On March 6, 2014, an English-language announcement appeared on Facebook , based on unconfirmed information from Edathy, that "the papers with the whole story" were available in many places and would be published if something happened to Edathy.

In April 2014, the Hanover Regional Court dismissed Edathy's complaints against the house search. Also in April 2014, an employee of an IT company working for the Bundestag claimed to have found nude photos of Asian boys on Edathy's computer in 2004. This happened in the course of a data backup . According to the employee, he reported the find, but was kept silent.

In May 2014, Süddeutsche Zeitung and NDR reported that the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office had evidence that Edathy had accessed at least 21 images with his laptop in November 2013 - according to the LKA, according to the LKA. The material was not identical to the files obtained from Azov Films , which had been classified as criminally irrelevant. The connection data came from the Bundestag server; Edathy had reported the laptop stolen in February. Edathy criticized the fact that internal documents had again been illegally passed on to journalists and spoke of the "public destruction" of his person, "along with an intended prejudice".

In May 2014 Edathy filed a constitutional complaint against the house search. Shortly afterwards, he asked the Lower Saxony Minister of Justice Antje Niewisch-Lennartz to release the Hanover public prosecutor's office from the investigation. This had started with the search of his apartment, although he was still a member of the Bundestag until February 10, 2014, and thus violated his parliamentary rights. Prosecutors said they had assumed that Edathy's political immunity had already expired when he waived his mandate on February 7, 2014, and will review the allegation, although they assume this will not play a role in the further proceedings. In June 2014, the Hanover Regional Court ruled against the Bundestag administration's opinion that Edathy's immunity no longer existed at the time of the search. In mid-August, a spokesman for the Bundestag admitted that a serious mistake had been made in the affair: The expiry of Edathy's mandate was initially incorrectly stated for February 6, which was only corrected on February 10 after a legal examination. The Federal Constitutional Court decided on August 15, 2014 not to accept Edathy's constitutional complaint for a decision. In this decision, however, the legal opinion of Edathy and the Bundestag administration was confirmed that Edathy had been immunized up to and including February 10, 2014 and that the house search was therefore unlawful.

Indictment, main hearing and termination of the proceedings

In July 2014, the Hanover public prosecutor brought charges against Edathy at the Verden district court for possession of photos and videos of child pornography . The investigation into the alleged theft of Edathy's laptop has been closed. The prosecution also closed the investigation into Edathy on suspicion of fake theft ; in spite of extensive efforts, no sufficiently concrete facts were found for this. With a ruling dated November 14, 2014, the Verden district court admitted the Hanover public prosecutor's office to be charged and opened the main proceedings against Edathy for possession of child pornography films and pictures. Because of the special importance of the case, it was tried before the regional court and not before the local court. Edathy's complaint against this was rejected.

The main hearing began on February 23, 2015. On March 2, 2015, Edathy's attorney issued the following legal statement: “The allegations are correct. I had in my possession the items named in the indictment, such as the illustrated book and the CD. The same goes for the log data, I downloaded and opened the files. I was familiar with the content. I realized that I made a mistake. It took me a long time. The more I was attacked in public, the more I felt I had to defend myself. I regret what I did. ”Thereupon the criminal proceedings according to § 153a StPO were set against payment of 5000 € in favor of the child protection association . Edathy then stated that he had not made a confession . Since there was no conviction, Edathy is not considered a criminal record .

The Child Protection Association refused to receive the money because it saw it as a false signal to buy oneself free from offenses against children. In many similar proceedings, however, the Child Protection Association has accepted fines. The federal government asked the court to designate another non-profit organization as the payee. The discontinuation of proceedings against payment of a fee is a legal institution that is frequently used in Germany (149,216 times in 2013). The BGH criminal judge Thomas Fischer spoke in connection with the hypocritical public outrage about this end of the procedure, which was interpreted as too mild, of a “daily mass business” and called the court's insistence on Edathy's declaration “embarrassing”. He saw the public “before the ruins of an unspeakable trial” that “only leaves losers”.

Controversial disclosure of information

The former spokesman for Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich , Jens Teschke, announced on February 13, 2014 that the President of the Federal Criminal Police Office, Jörg Ziercke, informed the then State Secretary in the Interior Ministry, Klaus-Dieter Fritsche , that Sebastian Edathy was in the context of the international investigation showed up on suspicion of child pornography. The State Secretary informed his direct superior Hans-Peter Friedrich (CSU) and, after asking the BKA, confirmed that no criminal charges were being made against Edathy. Friedrich, in turn , passed this information about Edathy on to the SPD party chairman Sigmar Gabriel after the 2013 federal election on the sidelines of the third exploratory round of coalition negotiations , which took place at noon on October 17, 2013 at the headquarters of the German parliamentary society . Before the investigative committee , Friedrich explained in June 2015 that State Secretary Fritsche had not only informed him about the preliminary investigation in October 2013, but had also advised him to inform SPD leader Gabriel.

Within the SPD, Gabriel again informed the parliamentary group leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the parliamentary manager Thomas Oppermann about the events. Oppermann tried to have the information confirmed in a telephone conversation with the President of the Federal Criminal Police Office, Jörg Ziercke. Ziercke confirmed the phone call that had taken place around 5:30 p.m. on October 17, but said that he had neither confirmed the information to Oppermann nor provided any information on the matter. In December, Oppermann informed his successor as Parliamentary Managing Director, Christine Lambrecht , as part of the handover . On February 11th, however, she claimed to journalists that she only had information from the press and that she had “no knowledge” of the reasons for the police investigation against Edathy. Edathy himself denied to the Spiegel that SPD politicians had informed him about the investigation. Rather, he and his lawyer acted on the basis of press reports. In the summer of 2014, however, Edathy claimed before the committee of inquiry ( see below ) that the SPD MP Michael Hartmann had already informed him in detail in November 2013.

On February 6, 2014, Jörg Fröhlich, Head of the Hanover Public Prosecutor's Office, informed the Bundestag President Norbert Lammert by letter about the initiation of the investigation. This letter arrived only six days later, on February 12, 2014, in an already open state, as confirmed by the spokesman for the Bundestag Ernst Hebeker. A post sticker from Citipost with the imprint of the Hanover judicial authorities and the date February 7, 2014 was stuck on another with the imprint of PIN Mail AG , dated February 11, 2014.

Resignation of Hans-Peter Friedrich

Hans-Peter Friedrich (2011)

The public prosecutor's office in Berlin initiated preliminary investigations against Friedrich on suspicion of betrayal . Friedrich first announced on February 14, 2014 that he would resign if an investigation was initiated against him. On the same day he resigned as Federal Minister of Agriculture - even before such investigations were opened . In his resignation speech, he stated that a lack of political support and political pressure had driven him to this decision, but asserted that he had acted correctly on the matter and ended his resignation speech with the words “Goodbye. I'll be back. ”Previously, Chancellor Angela Merkel had announced through government spokesman Steffen Seibert that there had been“ intensive discussions ”and that Friedrich was“ aware of the dimension of the process ”. Friedrich's successor as Minister of Agriculture on February 17, 2014 was the previous Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development , Christian Schmidt .

On February 25, 2014, it became known that the Berlin public prosecutor's office had initiated an investigation against Friedrich because of the initial suspicion of breach of official secrecy and that his immunity was lifted by the President of the Bundestag as a result . The public prosecutor's office came to the conclusion that Friedrich had acted illegally , but dropped the case in September 2014 because of minor guilt.

Reactions

Criticism of the investigation authorities' approach

The approach of the Hanover public prosecutor's office was criticized because the initiation of the preliminary investigation had taken place without sufficient initial suspicion . The criminal lawyer Monika Frommel described the procedure as "illegal searches of evidence". Edathy himself said that the search ordered by the Hanover District Court was disproportionate and complained that the investigation against him was "trampling on the principles of the rule of law".

In his article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Heribert Prantl comes to the conclusion that the “inadmissible search” at Edathy is “right on the verge of persecuting innocent people ( § 344 StGB )”. Hans Leyendecker, in turn, also writes in the SZ that in addition to Edathy, investigations have been started and apartment searches have been ordered against 15 other suspects; had the law enforcement authorities waived a search at Edathy, this could have accused her of treating a celebrity more gently than others.

Edathy's lawyer Christian Noll accused prosecutor Fröhlich of having informed his authority "deliberately incorrectly" about the investigation. At the press conference on February 14, it was not mentioned that the public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt and the Federal Criminal Police Office had declared before the start of the proceedings that the pictures ordered were not relevant under criminal law. The investigators would have "extinguished the personal rights of Mr. Edathy, his professional, social and private position [...] from one minute to the next".

At the same time, the first investigations into the 801 suspected cases were interrupted at the beginning of 2012 due to the involvement of a senior BKA official. The convicted officer was discreetly retired and the remaining cases were not pursued until October 2012. The then President of the Federal Criminal Police Office, Ziercke, had to testify several times before the Interior Committee of the Bundestag . The BKA also did not participate in international investigations in which more than 300 people were arrested by November 2013.

Party order proceedings against Edathy

The executive committee of the SPD decided on February 17, 2014 to suspend Edathy's membership. The SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel stated that the board and the presidium were "independent of criminal relevance" stunned that Edathy had acquired pictures of naked young people. In Gabriel's view, this is “incompatible with membership in the German Bundestag and does not fit with the Social Democratic Party of Germany”. After a meeting of the party presidium on February 24, 2014, the general secretary of the SPD, Yasmin Fahimi , declared that formal party control proceedings had been initiated against Edathy . Fahimi justified this step with Edathy's morally incorrect behavior.

The proceedings were handed over to the competent arbitration commission of the SPD district of Hanover. At the beginning of March 2014, it decided not to deal with the matter any further for the time being, first to await the outcome of the public prosecutor's investigation. Edathy's membership rights remained suspended. After the federal executive committee of the SPD demanded Edathy's expulsion from the party on March 24, 2015 , he declared that he did not want to leave the party voluntarily. After the criminal proceedings were discontinued, in April 2015 the Arbitration Commission provisionally rejected Edathy's expulsion requested by the party executive for a lack of sufficiently explained reasons. The federal executive board was requested to provide sufficient evidence within three weeks, otherwise the application for exclusion would be finally rejected.

On June 1, 2015, the arbitral tribunal decided to suspend Edathy's SPD membership for three years; Edathy was not excluded. The federal party and Edathy called the Federal Arbitration Commission of the SPD, with which he agreed on February 12, 2016 that his membership would be suspended for five years, but no criminal charges would be brought against him.

Demands for tightening the law

After the investigation against Edathy became known, the German Child Protection Association and the abuse commissioner of the federal government, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig , demanded a further tightening of the law. A general ban on the commercial distribution of nude photos of children is necessary. Prime Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) demanded that we should now talk about the "problematic gray area that purchased nude photos of children are not criminally relevant". The Federal Family Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD), CSU regional group leader Gerda Hasselfeldt and the Greens parliamentary group leader Anton Hofreiter made similar statements . Halina Wawzyniak , legal policy spokeswoman for the left , suggested more prevention , which was more promising than tightening penalties.

Spiegel interview with Edathy

In mid-March 2014, Edathy said in a Spiegel interview in southern Europe that neither the police nor the public prosecutor had yet “expressed interest” in speaking to him. He was “available at any time” through his lawyer and was neither “on the run” nor was he hiding. Rather, he only makes use of his "right to freedom of travel " as long as he is threatened in Germany. He was warned by a neighbor about neo-Nazis and journalists who were waiting for him in front of his house. Edathy complained about the violation of " rule of law principles ". He is “convinced that he has not committed a crime ” and that there is “no legal reason” to take action against him. Since he behaved “in accordance with the law”, he did not have to and will not apologize or justify himself for his “private life. [...] Everything I did was legal and should never have been made public. ”Edathy emphasized that he was“ an opponent of child pornography ”and distanced himself from it. Nudes by male children and adolescents have a long tradition in art history . Edathy confirmed that he had not resigned for health reasons: “My hope was that possible investigations would be less likely to become public when I am no longer an MP. It must be noted that that did not work. "

Bundestag committee of inquiry

Although the Interior Committee of the Bundestag is already dealing with the matter and u. a. Had heard the then BKA President Jörg Ziercke several times, the members of the parliamentary groups of the Left and the Greens asked to set up a committee of inquiry. They pointed out that only a committee of inquiry can inspect files and accused Ziercke of having acted like a suspect instead of a witness and only testified restrictively.

If the government groups abstained, the Bundestag decided to set up the second committee of inquiry of the 18th electoral term with eight members (CDU / CSU four, SPD two, Left and Greens one each), which was constituted on July 2, 2014. According to the schedule, the chairmanship fell to the SPD parliamentary group ( Eva Högl ), the deputy chairman to the CDU / CSU parliamentary group ( Michael Frieser ).

The order of the investigation was:

I. The committee of inquiry is to clarify with regard to the data originating from Canada in the context of the operation "Spade" there from investigations in connection with the acquisition and / or possession of child and youth pornography,

a) the course and the reasons for the duration of the corresponding proceedings in Germany (so-called operation "Selm") at the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), also with regard to the procedural processes between the BKA and the states as well as with regard to the handling and cooperation with state authorities in Lower Saxony and Hessen (Public Prosecutor's Office Frankfurt am Main / Central Office for Combating Internet Crime),

b) the information trade and data transfer in the case of the former member of the Bundestag Sebastian Edathy to the Federal Government, within the Federal Government, to other authorities and to third parties as well as the transfer of this data by other authorities and third parties to other persons,

c) the handling of the case of the BKA official ('X'), whose name was included in the data of the operation "Spade / Selm", by the management level of the BKA and the supervisory body.

II. ...

On December 14, 2014, Stern reported that Edathy claimed that SPD MP Michael Hartmann had informed him about the findings of the BKA in November 2013 and that the latter had received the information from BKA President Ziercke. Edathy also made an affidavit to Stern reporters. Then literally: “But does he provide hard evidence at some point -…?” With reference to this, Der Spiegel wrote : “Edathy also told Spiegel similar versions of this story in confidential conversations in Spain. Edathy could not provide sufficient evidence for their correctness. ”Ziercke denied having informed Hartmann.

Edathy confirmed to the investigative committee on December 18, 2014 that Ziercke had been Hartmann's source of information, who had warned him against searches, among other things, and referred to his SMS communication with Hartmann and Oppermann. On the same day, Hartmann and on January 15, 2015 also Ziercke denied Edathy's suspicions before the committee of inquiry. In the final report, the majority of the committee found that there was one statement against one statement on crucial issues and that no clarification was possible, which the opposition's special vote is against.

On February 5, 2015, Hartmann refused to make further statements to the investigative committee because of preliminary investigations that had been initiated. The investigation into suspected criminal obstruction was conducted by the Lüneburg public prosecutor's office and discontinued on June 6, 2016 due to a lack of sufficient suspicion. The preliminary investigation conducted by the Berlin public prosecutor's office on suspicion of undecided false testimony was also discontinued due to a lack of sufficient suspicion, which means that all preliminary investigations initiated against Hartmann in connection with the Edathy affair in accordance with Section 170 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO) have been discontinued.

Successful criminal complaint from Edathy

In May 2015 Edathy filed a criminal complaint against amateur actor Jan Leyk after he had been described on Facebook as a "perverted bastard" and expressed his hope that Edathy would be "spat on and pelted with stones in every place on this planet". Leyk was fined € 6,000 and accepted the verdict.

Web links

2. Committee of inquiry of the 18th electoral term of the German Bundestag
Meeting of the 2nd committee of inquiry on Thursday, December 18, 2014 - Major contradictions according to Edathy
The Edathy Case: Who's to Blame . Portrait of Sebastian Edathy. In: Zeit.online from February 20, 2014.
Broadcast contribution background topic of Deutschlandfunk from February 14, 2014.

Individual evidence

^ Sebastian Edathy: Press release. edathy.de, February 8, 2014, archived from the original on February 14, 2014 ; accessed on February 15, 2014 .

↑ ^a ^b han / dpa: Health reasons: Interior expert Edathy withdraws from the Bundestag. Spiegel Online , February 8, 2014, accessed February 8, 2014 .

↑ ^a ^b Telephone call at the limit of politeness. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , February 19, 2014, accessed on February 20, 2014 .

↑ ^a ^b Fabian Reinbold: Child porn affair: Opposition accuses BKA of silence tactics. Spiegel Online, March 1, 2014, accessed March 3, 2014 .

↑ Philipp Alvares de Souza Soares, Hubert Gude: The top BKA official was also on the child porn customer list. In: Spiegel Online , February 28, 2014.

↑ René Heilig: Also BKA top official on child porn customer list. In: Neues Deutschland , February 28, 2014.

↑ Christian Tretbar: BKA boss Jörg Ziercke: From contradicting to unbelievable. In: Der Tagesspiegel , March 4, 2014.

↑ Philipp Alvares de Souza Soares, Florian Gathmann: Interior Committee on the Edathy case: Now things are getting serious for BKA boss Ziercke. In: Spiegel Online , March 12, 2014.

^ Attack on the office of SPD politician Edathy , Berliner Zeitung , December 6, 2012

↑ Answer of the Federal Government to the Small Inquiry Open questions about the investigations of the Federal Criminal Police Office in the "Edathy" case, especially under the aspect of organizational processes and personnel structures (20 pages; PDF), printed matter 18/931, March 26, 2014, p. 7

↑ The Edathy Case - A Chronology. NDR, February 23, 2014, archived from the original on March 2, 2014 ; Retrieved March 3, 2014 .

↑ Florian Gathmann, Philipp Wittrock: Child pornography investigations: The Edathy case becomes a government affair. Spiegel Online, February 13, 2014, accessed February 15, 2014 .

↑ ^a ^b ^c Simone von Stosch : Chronology of the events in the Edathy case - who knew what and when? tagesschau.de, February 14, 2014, archived from the original on February 25, 2014 ; accessed on February 15, 2014 .

↑ Alexander Durin: Something clears up in the case of Sebastian Edathy. Telepolis , February 13, 2014, accessed February 15, 2014 .

↑ Tu Tanh Ha: 348 people arrested in child-porn case connected to Canadian firm. The Globe and Mail, November 16, 2013, accessed February 17, 2014 .

^ Robert Cribb: Child porn bust: How one man seduced an entire village. Toronto Star, November 16, 2013, accessed February 17, 2014 .

^ Edathy affair costs Friedrich the job. Reuters , February 13, 2014, accessed February 17, 2014 .

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ppo / dpa: “One has destroyed an existence”: All 16 LKA knew about the Edathy case early on. n-tv , February 13, 2014, accessed February 15, 2014 .

^ "Panorama 3": Naked pictures in the Edathy case apparently not punishable. NDR, February 12, 2014, accessed on February 18, 2014 .

↑ dpa: From the first suspicion to the resignation of the minister. Die Welt , February 14, 2014, accessed February 15, 2014 .

↑ Sebastian Edathy : PRESS RELEASE. (No longer available online.) February 8, 2014, archived from the original on February 14, 2014 ; Retrieved November 24, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.

↑ ps / mfi / flf / dpa: Public prosecutor confirms search. Focus , February 11, 2014, accessed February 18, 2014 .

↑ ^a ^b Hans Leyendecker , Tanjev Schultz : How "criminally irrelevant" became a raid. sueddeutsche.de, February 15, 2014, accessed on February 18, 2014 .

^ Public prosecutor's office is investigating Edathy. The Rake , February 11, 2014, accessed March 11, 2014 .

↑ ^a ^b Edathy attacks the public prosecutor's office. Tagesschau.de , February 12, 2014, archived from the original on March 24, 2014 ; accessed on February 15, 2014 .

^ The controversial picture of Edathy's apartment , Handelsblatt dated February 11, 2014

↑ Michael Hirschler: Photo in the apartment: personal rights? DJV , February 14, 2014, accessed on March 6, 2014 .

↑ syd / dpa / AFP: finds at Edathy: prosecutors speak of "borderline to child pornography". Spiegel Online, February 14, 2014, accessed February 15, 2014 .

↑ Jörg Fröhlich, Head of the Hanover Public Prosecutor's Office at the press conference on February 14, 2014 , PHOENIX on site - video on Youtube, 24:54

↑ Jörg Fröhlich, Head of the Hanover Public Prosecutor's Office at the press conference on February 14, 2014 , PHOENIX on-site video on Youtube , 44:26

↑ Jörg Fröhlich, Head of the Hanover Public Prosecutor's Office at the press conference on February 14, 2014 , PHOENIX on-site video on Youtube, 7: 05-20: 00

↑ Jörg Fröhlich, Head of the Hanover Public Prosecutor's Office at the press conference on February 14, 2014 , PHOENIX on-site video on Youtube, 35: 40-36: 50

^ Sven Röbel: Hanover public prosecutor's office: Bundestag contradicts chief investigator in the Edathy case. Spiegel Online, February 15, 2014, accessed February 15, 2014 .

↑ Incidents in the investigation in Hanover? tagesschau.de, February 21, 2014, archived from the original on February 24, 2014 ; accessed on February 23, 2014 .

↑ compare writing (criminal law) for the legal term, which includes sound and image carriers, data storage media, images and other representations

↑ zeit online / kg: Edathy rejects suspicion of possession of child porn. Die Zeit, February 11, 2014, accessed on February 16, 2014 .

↑ ^a ^b The long way of a letter. tagesschau.de, February 17, 2014, archived from the original on February 22, 2014 ; accessed on February 17, 2014 .

↑ ^a ^b Edathy case: Gabriel praises Friedrich's "extremely decent" decision. süddeutsche.de, February 17, 2014, accessed on February 17, 2014 .

↑ Philipp Alvares de Souza Soares, Sven Röbel: Service supervision complaint: Edathy lawyer accuses the public prosecutor of lying. Spiegel Online, February 17, 2014, accessed February 18, 2014 .

↑ Child porn affair: death threats against SPD politician Edathy , Spiegel online , February 23, 2014

↑ Sebastian Edathy makes puzzling Facebook entry , RP Online , March 6, 2014

^ Edathy fails with complaint , n-tv , April 6, 2014

↑ IT expert claims to have found pictures at Edathy as early as 2004 , Zeit online , April 6, 2014

↑ LKA sees evidence of criminal child pornography at Edathy , Zeit online , May 2, 2014

↑ Edathy files a complaint with the Constitutional Court , Die Welt , May 4, 2014

↑ Hans Leyendecker and Tanjev Schultz: Investigations against Edathy are wavering , Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 9, 2014

^ Spiegel Online Veit Medick : Child porn affair: Public prosecutor rejects Edathy allegations , Spiegel online , May 10, 2014

^ Searches at Edathy are probably legal , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 5, 2014

↑ Bundestag admits “error” in Edathy affair. Focus , August 16, 2014, archived from the original on August 20, 2014 ; accessed on March 25, 2016 .

↑ Decision of the Federal Constitutional Court - 2 BvR 969/14

↑ Michael Fröhlingsdorf, Florian Gathmann, Veit Medick, Sven Röbel: Indictment against SPD politicians: It will be tight for Edathy. In: Spiegel Online , July 17, 2014.

^ Public prosecutor's office indicts Edathy. tagesschau.de , July 17, 2014, archived from the original on July 10, 2015 ; accessed on March 25, 2016 .

^ Opening of the main proceedings, press release of the Verden Regional Court, November 18, 2014.

↑ Mariam Lau : Edathy Trial: After all, half a confession. In: Zeit Online , March 2, 2015.

↑ Edathy admits guilt . In: Nordwest-Zeitung , March 2, 2015.

↑ Second class confession? ( Memento from March 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: tagesschau.de , March 2, 2015.

↑ Sebastian Edathy: Kinderschutzbund does not want his money . In: Spiegel Online . March 3, 2015. Accessed March 3, 2015.

↑ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Rechtspflege - Public Prosecutor's Offices 2013 Special Series 10 Series 2.6 . S. 26 ( PDF ).

↑ Thomas Fischer: Setting the proceedings: Confession for 5,000 euros. In: Zeit Online , March 10, 2015.

↑ Dpa: BKA contradicts Oppermann in the case Edathy , Rheinische Post , February 13 2014

^ Union and SPD agree on coalition negotiations from Wednesday. Image , October 17, 2013, accessed March 1, 2014 .

↑ Jasper von Altenbockum: questions about questions. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , February 18, 2014, accessed on February 18, 2014 .

↑ Left and FDP demand Friedrich's dismissal. sueddeutsche.de, February 14, 2014, accessed on February 14, 2014 .

↑ dpa / Reuters / sk: Berlin public prosecutor examines allegations against Friedrich. Die Zeit , February 13, 2014, accessed on February 15, 2014 .

^ Ex-Minister Friedrich incriminates State Secretary Fritsche In: welt.de, June 18, 2015

^ Allegations against SPD politician Edathy SPD-head knew of suspicion since October. Tagesschau.de, February 13, 2014, archived from the original on March 25, 2014 ; accessed on February 15, 2014 .

↑ Thorsten Denkler: Bosbach declares the "political part" of the crisis "largely" over , Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 19, 2014

^ BKA President Ziercke comments. (PDF; 90 kB) BKA, February 13, 2014, archived from the original on February 22, 2014 ; accessed on February 15, 2014 .

↑ flo / kn / dpa: Child porno allegations: SPD leadership knew about the Edathy case since October. Spiegel Online, February 13, 2014, accessed February 15, 2014 .

↑ Investigations into suspected child pornography: Edathy denies contact with tipsters. Spiegel Online, accessed February 15, 2014.

↑ als / dpa: Edathy affair: Bundestag confirms unsealed letter. Spiegel Online, February 17, 2014, accessed February 18, 2014 .

↑ dpa / Reuters / AFP / lala / jhal: Federal Agriculture Minister Friedrich resigns. sueddeutsche.de, February 14, 2014, accessed on February 16, 2014 .

↑ Robin Alexander: Friedrich's fight lasted until the Chancellor called. Die Welt , February 14, 2014, accessed on February 16, 2014 .

^ Martin Lutz, Uwe Müller: Public prosecutor initiates proceedings against Friedrich. Die Welt, February 26, 2014, accessed on February 26, 2014 .

↑ Markus Decker: Friedrich gets away , Frankfurter Rundschau , September 8, 2014

↑ ^a ^b Heribert Prantl : Criminal law is not a moral law. sueddeutsche.de, February 16, 2014, accessed on February 16, 2014 . Criminally innocent? Edathy case in Süddeutsche Zeitung of February 15, 2014, page 13: “The films are not covered by the new, highly sensitive criminal law. But if that is the case, months of investigation or preliminary investigation are problematic. The house and office searches at Edathy are even more problematic. Not only are they highly problematic, they are arguably illegal and unconstitutional. [...] The speculative and, at the same time, existence-destroying and therefore impermissible search at Edathy is right on the verge of persecuting innocent people (Section 344 of the Criminal Code). "

↑ “Everyone is allowed to have pictures of naked boys” , Interview with Monika Frommel, professor emeritus for criminal law, Deutschlandfunk from February 13, 2014: “... the Canadian authorities [...] only announced that there are nude photos. [...] only when there are facts that the material could be pornographic does an initial suspicion arise. What the prosecution did here is something like an evidence search. That is really contrary to fundamental rights. "

↑ ulz / dpa: Supervision complaint: Edathy is planning legal steps against the public prosecutor. Spiegel Online, February 16, 2014, accessed February 16, 2014 .

↑ Hans Leyendecker, Tanjev Schultz: The long way of a confidential letter. sueddeutsche.de, February 17, 2014, accessed on February 18, 2014 .

↑ Peter Carstens: Gently disposed of. In: FAZ.net . March 30, 2014, accessed October 31, 2016 .

^ Hubert Gude, Veit Medick: SPD Ordnungsverfahren: Edathy threatens to be excluded from the party. Spiegel Online, February 17, 2014, accessed February 18, 2014 .

^ SPD initiates exclusion proceedings against Edathy , FAZ from February 24, 2014

↑ Karl Doemens: Edathy-ejection must wait ( memento of March 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). Frankfurter Rundschau, March 5, 2014, accessed on the same day