Quitting Over Child Porn

Bowing to pressure coming from within his own party, a German lawmaker has announced he will not seek re-election this year after becoming the target of a child pornography investigation.

In a statement on his website, Joerg Tauss, a member of the center-left Social Democrats, said the decision was mostly a result of public preconceptions and a daily barrage of criticism from his own party.

He also said the past few weeks have been difficult for both he and his wife, explaining that what is happening to him is nothing more than an attempted social execution.

Ute Vogt, head of the Social Democrats in the state parliament of Baden-Wuerttemberg, praised Tauss' decision to bow out of the race in the run-up to the national elections in September.

Investigation

Prosecutors in Karlsruhe are investigating Tauss on suspicion of possessing and acquiring child porn.

Tauss has denied any wrongdoing, insisting that he was carrying out legitimate research aimed at breaking up a child porn ring in his capacity as a lawmaker.

Germany's cabinet agreed on Wednesday on a law authorizing the blocking of Internet pages containing child pornography to make it harder for criminals to profit from distributing the material.

The legislation is modeled on action taken by countries such as Britain, Italy and the Scandinavian states.