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Thomas Strobl
Photo: Marijan Murat / dpa
The Stuttgart public prosecutor's office has launched an investigation against Baden-Württemberg's Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU).
It is about the suspicion of inciting prohibited communications about court hearings, the authority said on Wednesday.
Strobl admitted on Wednesday in a special session of the interior committee that he had passed on an official letter from his lawyer to a journalist in an affair involving allegations of sexual assault by a high-ranking police officer.
He was concerned with "avoiding damage to the state police."
Strobl had initially stopped the public prosecutor's investigations into the question of how the letter had gotten to the public.
Prosecutors now suspect Strobl under Section 353d of the Criminal Code, which prohibits the publication of an indictment or other official document of a criminal case before it has been discussed in public.
The penalty is a fine or imprisonment of up to one year.
The public prosecutor's office also opened an investigation against the journalists involved on suspicion of violating this paragraph.
The opposition has already called for Strobl's resignation, which the CDU politician rejects.
Strobl had made official secrets public by passing on the lawyer's letter, violated his duty of care as an employer and violated data protection, criticized the SPD, FDP and AfD in Stuttgart.
That was a "scandalous event," said SPD faction leader Andreas Stoch.
His FDP colleague Hans-Ulrich Rülke said: "With the abysses that open up, this minister can no longer remain in office."
Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann backed his deputy.
Strobl credibly explained to him that there was no violation of the law and that he was concerned with creating transparency, the Greens politician said.
Strobl continues to have his full confidence.
The public prosecutor's office has been investigating suspected sexual harassment against the leading police officer since November.
The man is said to have harassed a chief inspector in a video chat with his ideas about sexual practices.
Sources from the interior committee said that the transcript of the video chat, which is available to the deputies, clearly shows that the policewoman's husband offered to help her in her career if she were to be of sexual service to him.
as /dpa/AFP