It is still unclear who leaked the secret documents of the Hessian constitutional protection officers on the right-wing extremist terrorist cell NSU to the public. The State Criminal Police Office is investigating.
Who released the secret documents?
The “Ask the State” platform and Jan Böhmermann’s “ZDF Magazin Royale” have published the documents and put them on the Internet.
Are the published documents genuine?
The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Hesse does not officially comment on this. However, since the authority has filed a criminal complaint for the unlawful disclosure of classified documents, it can be assumed that this is the case.
Against whom is the criminal complaint directed?
The criminal complaint is formally directed against unknown persons. The Hessian State Criminal Police Office is investigating. This is about the unlawful disclosure and not about the publication of the documents. The “Ask the State” platform and Jan Böhmermann’s “ZDF Magazin Royale” are therefore not the focus of the investigators.
What is the NSU?
As the “National Socialist Underground” (NSU), Beate Zschäpe, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt had been murdering through Germany for years. The victims of the right-wing terrorists were nine traders of Turkish and Greek origin and a German policewoman. Mundlos and Böhnhardt killed themselves in 2011 to avoid being arrested. Zschäpe was sentenced to life imprisonment as an accomplice.
What are the NSU files about?
The so-called NSU files of the Hessian Office for the Protection of the Constitution are the result of an examination in which the authority examined its own files and documents on right-wing extremism for possible references to the “National Socialist underground”. There has been a dispute about her for years. The files were initially classified as secret for 120 years, but the time was later reduced to 30 years. More than 130,000 people have petitioned for publication.
What specific information is the published document about?
The documents are classified reports from the years 2013 and 2014. These are the results of a retrospective internal examination of the state of knowledge by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Hesse from the period from the beginning of January 1992 to the end of June 2012.
According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, these are not so-called “NSU files”, but the reports “File review 2012 – technical final report on the file review in the LfV Hessen” of December 19, 2013 and “Final report on the file review in the LfV Hessen in 2012” of 20 November 2014.
Why are NSU documents classified as secret?
The classification of intelligence findings as classified information follows standardized guidelines in order to protect the confidentiality of the information. This is about the protection of sources. Human sources could endanger life and limb if they became aware of their work for an intelligence service. Passing on classified information to unauthorized third parties is a criminal offence.
What classifications of classified information are there?
There are the classification levels: VS – Only for official use, VS – Confidential, Secret and Top Secret. A distinction must be made between the classification level and the classification period: The classification period determines the length of time for which classified information remains classified. Only after this period has expired is the classified information declassified, i.e. open. There are time limits for classification of 30, 50, 90 and 120 years. The particularly long classification applies to very sensitive processes and to protect children and grandchildren from human sources.
Who knew so far about the content of the published NSU documents?
The documents were presented in full to two investigative committees of the Hessian state parliament. The members of the Parliamentary Control Commission for the Protection of the Constitution also had the opportunity to view the file inspection reports at any time. The documents were made available to the Federal Criminal Police Office, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Hessian State Criminal Police Office.
How are the reactions to the publication?
A spokesman for the federal government said that he could not comment on the specific case of the Hessian NSU files. “Basically,” he would say, “that there are good reasons for classifying files and that violations of something like that shouldn’t set a precedent.” A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior explained that the publication of files that are actually confidential may reveal something about the way security authorities work. This is “a danger and an obstacle” for the work of these authorities.
