In recent months, Germany’s government and intelligence agencies have gone after journalists and parliamentarians in an effort to keep classified information secret. Now, their efforts have resulted in a bona fide scandal for Berlin. By SPIEGEL Staff
When former German Federal Prosecutor Harald Range greeted SPIEGEL journalists for an interview at the end of July, he seemed combative. The 67-year-old recalled his oath of office as a young public prosecutor in the university town of Göttingen, to investigate “independent of a person’s standing.”
He also said he refused to allow his position to be influenced by politics in any way, adding that he “had so far” not been given any orders by the government. “I am free in my decisions,” he said. But did he already suspect at that point that an investigation into two journalists would soon rock both his office and the government in Berlin?