Neo-Nazi evidence deleted
February 12, 2012
Germany's federal criminal agency, the BKA, has allowed evidence related to the neo-Nazi terror investigation to be deleted, according to a newspaper report.
According to German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, the data had been stored on the mobile phone of André E., an alleged key supporter of the extremist group known as the National Socialist Underground.
The data had been decrypted by Germany's federal policing agency, the Bundespolizei. According to a BKA spokesperson, the BKA ordered the data to be deleted to avoid scattering the evidence amongst the various authorities involved in the investigation.
A BKA employee is said to have ordered the deletion in December, after assuring the police that a copy of the data had been saved on the agency's computers.
A security expert quoted by Bild said the news "smacks of suppression of evidence on behalf of the BKA," saying it's possible the BKA wanted to protect informants connected to the neo-Nazi cell. The federal police generally keep evidence related to each investigation at least until the conclusion of a trial, in order to prove exactly where their evidence was found.
The office of Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich has requested a "full explanation."
Wolfgang Bosbach, chairman of the Bundestag's Interior Affairs Committee, said it was a "serious incident that should immediately be resolved." Bosbach said there should be no suspicion that "anything was being covered up."
The National Socialist Underground is believed to be responsible for 10 murders that targeted mostly foreigners between 2000 and 2007. The group is also alleged to have robbed several banks and carried out bomb explosions in Cologne.
cmk/pfd (AFP, dpa)
Editor's note: Deutsche Welle is bound by German law and the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and obliges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.