FDP wants to force an investigation against Strobl: secret betrayal

Created: 05/27/2022, 06:09

Thomas Strobl (CDU), Interior Minister of Baden-Württemberg.

© Uli Deck/dpa/archive image

First a criminal complaint, now a lawsuit: The FDP does not want to put up with the fact that the Ministry of the Interior can block investigations against its own minister.

It is about the disclosure of a lawyer's letter to the press and the allegation of treason.

Stuttgart - The FDP parliamentary group wants to sue against the Interior Ministry's no to investigations into suspected breaches of official secrets against Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU).

"We commission a well-known law firm with a complaint," said parliamentary group leader Hans-Ulrich Rülke of the German Press Agency in Stuttgart.

The aim is for an administrative court to persuade the Ministry of the Interior to have the public prosecutor investigate the minister on suspicion of betrayal of secrets.

The FDP is reacting to a statement from the Stuttgart public prosecutor's office that such investigations are not possible because the ministry vetoed such investigations a few months ago.

The CDU politician Strobl is under massive pressure because he forwarded a letter from the lawyer of a high-ranking police officer to a journalist.

The official is being investigated for sexual harassment and has been suspended from work.

The opposition accuses Strobl of having broken several laws by passing on the letter.

After Strobl admitted that the letter had been passed on at the beginning of May, the public prosecutor's office initiated investigations into suspected illegal disclosure of court hearings.

The FDP parliamentary group had asked the public prosecutor's office to investigate, among other things, the treason of secrets.

Like the SPD, the liberals consider it a scandal that the judiciary is being prevented from doing its job.

You speak of "abuse of office" by the Ministry of the Interior.

The department argues, however, that the lawyer's letter is not an official document and also not an official secret, which is why the authorization for investigations was not granted.

The high-ranking police officer's lawyer had sent a letter to the Ministry shortly before Christmas.

In it he also offered the head of the house a personal interview with the accused official.

Strobl saw it as a "poisoned offer".

He wanted to ensure “maximum transparency” and prevent the other side from writing and being accused of cheating.

The opposition is demanding Strobl's dismissal and is seeking a committee of inquiry.

dpa