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Stuck in protest: Climate activists of the "Last Generation" have already demonstrated several times against climate policy in Berlin (archive image)

Photo: HANNIBAL HANSCHKE / EPA

The Munich Public Prosecutor's Office has confirmed that investigators have intercepted telephone conversations of members of the climate group "Last Generation" on their behalf. Due to the initial suspicion of forming or supporting a criminal organization against members of the group, the Munich District Court had also issued decisions on the surveillance of telecommunications. This was announced by the authority on Sunday at the request of the dpa news agency, confirming a corresponding report by the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". These decisions were executed by the Bavarian State Office of Criminal Investigation on behalf of the Public Prosecutor's Office. The group, as well as politicians from the SPD and the Left Party, criticized the wiretapping.

A spokesman for the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office said the decisions were not directed against journalists. "However, they were affected by the measures due to calls made via the monitored telephone numbers."

He explained that before and during the monitoring, its proportionality had been constantly checked. The Prosecutor General's Office, as before the decisions were adopted, had come to the conclusion that the measures were proportionate in the light of the allegations. "In this balancing, the constitutional status of the freedom of the press was of course weighted accordingly," the spokesman said.

Official press phone and activists' private mobile phones tapped

The »Süddeutsche Zeitung« had previously reported, citing internal documents, that Bavarian investigators had been monitoring a landline with a Berlin area code since October 2022, which the »Last Generation« advertised as its official press phone. When journalists called there, they were also monitored unnoticed. At the same time, investigators had also tapped the private cell phones of activists, according to the newspaper's research.

Representatives of the SPD and the Left Party criticized the wiretapping. "The whole procedure raises questions about proportionality," Lars Castellucci, deputy chairman of the interior committee in the Bundestag, told the Tagesspiegel. These questions were addressed not only to the authorities, but also to politicians. "The concerns about a radicalization of the climate protest are to be taken seriously," said the SPD politician: "The criminal offense of a criminal organization must not be an invitation to procedures that drive the accused into radicalism."

According to left-wing politicians, wiretapping operation was "misused for an indecent election campaign"

The chairman of the Left Party's parliamentary group, Dietmar Bartsch, assessed the wiretapping operation in the "Tagesspiegel" as part of the Bavarian election campaign. The wiretapping operation by the Bavarian Public Prosecutor's Office is completely inappropriate and shows that it is wrong for public prosecutors to be politically bound by instructions. They are being misused for an indecent election campaign," Bartsch said. The Bavarian Left Party invited to a protest action in front of the Bavarian Ministry of Justice at noon on Sunday.

The "Last Generation" wrote about the report on Saturday on Twitter: "We protest with name and face, publish our plans, accept legal consequences. Nevertheless, the Bavarian LKA logged telephone calls, e-mails and movement profiles. Even our press phone was monitored. That's absurd!"

The German police union, on the other hand, justified the surveillance. "The wiretapping measures were approved by independent judges and can be reviewed at any time, even retrospectively and with regard to their usability," said Federal Chairman Rainer Wendt.

dpa/alw