Search and Seizure at LabourNet Germany – Recent News on April 2007

Written by Ralf Pandorf and Mag Wompel for the Labor’s Voices Conference III in April 2007 published at LabourNet Germany

As we have written in our press-statement from July, 28th, 2005 on Tuesday, July 5th, 2005 at approx. 6.30 am the apartments of Mag Wompel (head of staff, LabourNet Germany ), Wolfgang Schaumberg (director of the Labournet Association) and Ralf Pandorf (LabourNet Germany webmaster and boardmember of the Labournet Association) were searched by the police.

All computers (including laptops, servers and reserve machines), several CD-Roms and parts of written archives were seized.

The police raid took place following a decision by the Bochum district court, based on charges of the falsification of documents. As a police officer told us, on December 14 th, 2004 a leaflet was distributed in which the header from the Bochum branch of the "Federal Agency for Employment" was forged. There is no link between the leaflet and us. But a few days later, on 22.12.2004, the “Kommando Paul Lafarque” confessed the distribution of the leaflet. In that letter, published in indymedia Germany, they made a connotation of the LabourNet homepage and the “Aktion Agenturschluss” (a civil disobedience campaign against the so-called Hartz-laws, in which, amongst others, Labournet Germany is involved). Via our legal representative we demanded that the confiscated material be returned immediately. On 11.07.05 our computers were returned but many important documents, CD-Roms and written archives, especially the correspondence at the time of the “Aktion Agenturschluss” and “Aktion Schwarze Schafe” (a campaign which informs about the conditions of employment of 1-euro-workers that equal to the “workfare-program" or "work for food" in the US) still are at the public prosecutor's office.

We are really concerned about the protection of our informants! For that we express sharpest protest against this totally extreme and unmeasured action and state that our freedom of press is heavily damaged.

Hundreds of protest and solidarity-letters from all over the world have reached the court and the public prosecutor. They have had a lot of work with it and that’s good. Cause in the time they are involved they cant do other bullshit. Thanks to all, you were great!

One year later the German justice stops all investigations against us. All of the confiscated material is returned. The court says in his decision the seizure and the confiscation of our material was illegal and against the fundamental law of Germany and the freedom of press.

That’s all, nothing else matters…

And that’s the real problem.

We are looking for damage-payment, because the seizure and the following has caused over 10,000 € (13,000 $) of total cost, but it seems that we failed. Another court is responsible for this decision and at this time they say that the damage-payment is under 350€ (500 $). That’s a joke but the reality! And if we are honest it is impossible to get more.

But the real problem is that they have had our contact-lists. We are involved in a lot of social struggles, many people are writing to us and some of them give us confidential information’s. And now they have their names. The police officer, who handles our case, said that there exists no copy of our hardware. But we are realistic enough to believe this not!

And on the other side more leftwing editors, journalists and social-movement-agencies were searched in the last two years. At least the German Constitutional Court decided that this was illegal too. But nobody can stop that totally extreme and unmeasured action.

And if we are looking forward to the plans of our legislator in Germany the future looks bad. So the German Cabinet has passed a bill in April 2007 that changes the regulations on the monitoring of telecommunications, allowing security authorities to access connection and location data preemptively. Look therefore to an article published at heise-news: “German government approves retention of data”

We are not the only one who describes this as rampant surveillance. For example there was a demonstration in Frankfurt in April 2007 and more than 1,000 people demonstrate against the Big Brother state. In planning a new anti-terror legislation the minister Wolfgang Schäuble (Christian Democratic Union; CDU) intends to expand Germany's surveillance structure significantly and, among other things, give the police automatic access to digital passport photos and the fingerprints that will in future be stored on German ID documents. The plans currently being discussed contains to retain telephone call and Internet data, search PCs surreptitiously via the Net, the drive to expand the video surveillance of public spaces and the proposals for automatic scanning and database comparison of number plates of vehicles traveling or parked on public roads.

Some of these plans maybe cancelled in the near future, but a lot of them will be part of our life. We are fighting against it and if you are looking on our site labournet.de you will find a large index of items in fundamental-rights we a caring about (only in German language)

A short summary of Reports from social conflicts in Germany in English are published on our Special-Site Germany under the item Social Conflicts