Germany: Crime by association - Terrorist law criminalises critical research
01 October 2007
Over recent years, political opposition and investigative journalism have come under attack by police and the security services in Germany. In line with a general erosion of civil liberties in Europe, exacerbated by the "war on terror" and egged on by shady secret service activities, investigative journalists have been spied on (see Statewatch Vol. 16 no 1), G8 protesters have been criminalised (Statewatch Vol. 17 no 2) and most recently social scientists have been accused of membership of a terrorist organisation for being associated with social movements and using words such as "gentrification", "precarisation" and "Marxist-Leninist" in their publications; words that also appeared in letters by a group claiming responsibility for arson attacks against cars and buildings in and around Berlin since 2001.
Alongside the social scientists, one of whom was arrested, three activists were arrested and accused of having attempted to set fire to military vans on industrial land near Berlin. All of the accused have been charged with membership of a terrorist organisation; the police claim that they form part of a group that calls itself
militante gruppe (militant group, mg), but hard evidence to corroborate this claim is still missing. Whilst earlier terrorist proceedings criminalising the oppositional left received little attention from the mainstream media, a mass of protest letters has reached the German public prosecutors office regarding this case. Distinguished professors such as Mike Davis and David Harvey and university and educational institutes such as the Centre for Urban and Community Studies or the Global Union Federation Education International are demanding, in strongly-worded statements, an end to the proceedings that are endangering freedom of research and thought.
In addition to the worrying trend of prosecuting people for their writing, the recent arrests have led to a more far-reaching debate about the application of terrorist law to "regular" criminal acts. A judge of the Federal Court of Justice asked himself the same question, so that from 11 October onwards, a criminal division of the same court will now deliberate whether the mg can be classified as terrorist. Since the new definition of terrorism, introduced in Germany with the transposition of the EU Council framework decision combating terrorism into national law in 2003, criminal acts would have to "fundamentally threaten" the order of the state to be classified as terrorist, a definition that obviously leaves room for interpretation. The question is whether the mg's arson attacks, none of which have injured persons or even remotely disrupted public life, can be defined as terrorism. The ruling will therefore not only decide on the imprisonment and defence rights of those accused, but impact on the definition of terrorism in Germany as a whole.
The "suspects": investigating social movements
According to the investigation files, the four activist researchers were under investigation since at least September 2006. The three others came under investigation after two alleged meetings between Andrej H. and Florian L. in February and April 2007. On the night of 31 July this year, Florian L., Axel H. and Oliver R. were arrested whilst driving in a car in Brandenburg, after allegedly planning to set fire to army vehicles in the area. The police blocked off the road, stopped their car, smashed the windows, beat at least one of them whilst he was still in his car seat with his safety belt on, and dragged them out of the window, injuring one in the process. Andrej H., a sociologist at the Humboldt university of Berlin and father of three, experienced less violent, but equally intimidating, treatment when police raided his home and arrested him at 7am in the morning. All four were flown by helicopter – three of them dressed in Guantanamo-style suits - to the public prosecutors office in Karlsruhe the same night and pu