This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/12/germany-drops-inquiry-into-claims-nsa-tapped-angela-merkels-phone

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Germany drops inquiry into claims NSA tapped Angela Merkel's phone Germany drops inquiry into claims NSA tapped Angela Merkel's phone
(about 2 hours later)
German federal prosecutors have closed their investigation into the alleged tapping of Angela Merkel’s mobile phone by the US National Security Agency. Germany has closed down its investigation into a report that the NSA hacked into Angela Merkel’s mobile phone, a move that appears to be aimed at ending transatlantic friction that was putting at risk intelligence cooperation between the two countries.
Prosecutors opened an investigation last June into the alleged monitoring of a phone the German chancellor used for party business, an issue that has weighed on relations between Germany and the US. US intelligence agencies have been angered by the amount of sensitive information being made public as a result of German investigations into US surveillance in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations two years ago.
In December, however, Germany’s chief prosecutor Harald Range signalled that the inquiry was not going well and that he had found no actionable evidence. German federal prosecutors announced on Friday their investigation is being wound down because they have been unable to find evidence that would stand up in court.
His office announced on Friday that it did not have an original document to prove spying had taken place, and documents published in the media did not provide evidence that would stand up in court. The investigation came after Der Spiegel reported in October 2013 that the NSA had a database containing Merkel’s personal phone number. Merkel publicly expressed outrage and dispatched a team of senior German intelligence officers to Washington, supposedly to extract a ‘no spy’ agreement.
German magazine Der Spiegel broke the story of the alleged monitoring in late 2013, citing documents provided by Edward Snowden. When the row was its height, Merkel said: “The charges are grave and have to be cleared up.”
“The documents published in the media so far that come from Edward Snowden also contain no evidence of surveillance of the cellphone used by the chancellor solid enough for a court,” Range’s office said in a statement. A German federal investigation began in June last year but the office of the German chief prosecutor, Harald Range, announced on Friday that it did not have an original NSA document proving the NSA spied on Merkel and that the documents published in the press would not stand up in court.
Prosecutors said they see no prospect of success in continuing to investigate. They noted that journalists involved in publishing Snowden’s documents are entitled to refuse testimony, and argued that public statements by Snowden give no indication that he has personal knowledge of the surveillance of Merkel’s phone. “The documents published in the media so far that come from Edward Snowden also contain no evidence of surveillance of the mobile phone used by the chancellor solid enough for a court,” Range’s office said in a statement.
“The vague comments by US officials about possible surveillance of the chancellor’s mobile telecommunication by a U.S. intelligence service ‘not any more’ are not enough to describe what happened,” they added. German prosecutors said they see no prospect of success in continuing to investigate.
The White House, responding to the Der Spiegel story in 2013, said it was not spying on Merkel at present and nor would it in the future but refused to say whether it had in the past, which was interpreted by some as an admission of guilt.
But German prosecutors said: “The vague comments by US officials about possible surveillance of the chancellor’s mobile telecommunication by a US intelligence service ‘not any more’ are not enough to describe what happened.
“The comments, which were viewed in public as a general admission of guilt, do not discharge us from (fulfilling) the burden of proof according to the requirements of criminal procedure.”“The comments, which were viewed in public as a general admission of guilt, do not discharge us from (fulfilling) the burden of proof according to the requirements of criminal procedure.”
The federal prosecutor’s office received virtually no cooperation in its investigation from either the NSA or Germany’s equivalent, the BND.
Christoph Scheuermann, UK correspondent for Der Spiegel, responding to the decision, said closure of the investigation was about reassuring the US and showing that Germany is going to be more cooperative. “Merkel wants to be a good ally again after all the embarrassing things that have happened,” he said.
While German intelligence has a reputation for being good on the Middle East, it is heavily reliant on the US for other parts of the world and may have feared the flow of information from the US could be cut off, Scheuermann said.
Germany may also be reliant on US cooperation in helping keep tabs on foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq with groups such as Islamic State, which is very active on social media. The NSA has better access to US-based internet providers than Germany.