And Still Waiting

BERLIN/BEIRUT (Own report) - The former leader of the opposition in the German Federal Parliament, who has become the current chancellor, Angela Merkel, (CDU), had been informed 11 months ago of the torture that was taking place during German criminal investigations. She took no legal steps against these crimes. This is proven by documents on hand at german-foreign-policy.com. According to this information, Mrs. Merkel was informed in writing of the facts of the case February 24, 2005. The chairpersons of the other parliamentary parties or their parliamentary representatives were also informed of the accusations eleven months ago. The parliamentarians were made aware that the "outsourced" state's attorney investigations to Lebanon, ended in grievous violations of human rights through torture. The Federal Public Prosecutor was the person directly responsible for German "offshore" criminal prosecution measures, taking place in a torturing state. The Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) was an accomplice. When a witness of this obvious crime, turned to the Petitions Committee of the Federal Parliament, he was held at bay for more than six months. The parliamentarian non-treatment of the torture charges sheds a spotlight on the internal state of the German Republic, that feels itself called upon to defend human rights around the world. German-foreign-policy.com publishes documents.

Dated February 24, 2005, "Mrs. Dr. Angela Merkel, MP" received a 4-page writing, whose authors should have caught her attention, because of their function in the service of the state: "Robert Mayer, police chief inspector in the Federal Border Guard" (BGS) and "Ralph Trede, detective senior superintendent in the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation "informatively" turned to the leader of the opposition party at the time.[1] Even with only a perfunctory look at the message, it must have become apparent to Merkel's office that the authors are drawing attention to a situation of constitutional importance. Already page one informs of alarming incidents and of those in positions of responsibility for the constitutional sovereignty of the country and the government executive who are implicated. The reference line literally reads:

"A. Violation of the constitutionally stipulated official handling of reported human rights violations (Art. 20, Par. 3 of the Constitution) (cognizance of torture gleaned while on operative mission for the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation in Lebanon)
B. Violation of international contractual obligations in the question of the protection of human rights
C. Suspicion of obstruction of justice in office against;
a) President of the BKA, J. ZIERCKE
b) Minister of the Interior, Mr. Otto SCHILY
c) Federal Public Prosecutor, Mr. K. NEHM and implicated assistants."

Crimes against prisoners

As can be deduced from the second page of the document, BKA criminal detective supervisor, Trede, personally informed BKA president, Ziercke, of "torture of prisoners" carried out in the course of a BKA operation in Lebanon.[2] According to amnesty international (ai) targeted persons of the BKA operation were victims of grievous crimes against prisoners including denial of food and torture by suspension. Five months after the torture report given in the office of the BKA president, Trede was forced to admit that the mandatory warrant was either not sworn out by his supervisor or that the Federal Public Prosecutor has initiated no investigations into the affair. This information was imparted by Trede to Dr. Merkel.

Call for Help

What's more, the current chancellor learned that Trede, the BKA criminal detective supervisor, who had informed her of the use of torture and was the main appellant, was suspended from his post at the BKA. Officially, released from service for reasons of health, the real reason is that the BKA officer was put through living hell. In his February 24, 2005 document, Trede "informatively" pleaded to the CDU parliamentarian for "personal protection." Because of the "torture incidents becoming a discussion topic" and Tredes refusal to be a party to "further attempts to suppress evidence," he must expect "that the already initiated reprisals will be reinforced".[3] But this obvious call for help from the policeman, who had been decorated on several occasions, brought Trede no reprieve. Mrs. Merkel never answered.

Questions of Personnel

Mrs. Merkel was not the only parliamentarian to show indifference toward Trede's concern about constitutional violations and his personal security. The "MPs, Misters Franz MUENTERFERING, Michael GLOS" and "Dr. Guido WESTERWELLE" had also been sent the call for help. None of them honored the complaint concerning torture with a single syllable. At least the Buendnis 90/Greens responded that this would be taken up in the parliamentary petitions committee. This is tantamount to condemning the matter to a third-rate burial. The socialist opposition in the Federal Parliament, in the person of "Ms. Petra PAU, MP," outdid the colleagues of the other parties. There will hardly be an intervention of the PDS into a question of BKA personnel, explained Ms. Pau from Berlin. No other responses have been received from parliamentarians, the author assures german-foreign-policy.com.

Hypocritical

This left the officials of the German state, Mayer and Trede, no other recourse than to revert to their rights under Article 17 of the German Constitution, and lodge a complaint to the Petitions Committee of the Federal Parliament. With registered letter and a confirmation dated March 9, 2005, signed in Berlin, the police chief inspector and the detective senior superintendent appealed to "Mr. Chairman, Dr. Karlheinz GUTTMACHER." The document addressed to the petition commission was very explicit:

"The Federal Republic of Germany stakes (...) a very high juristic as well as moral claim, to the question of international protection of humans rights. In light of this assertion, Germany, a rule of law state, cannot afford to allow cases of torture, that officially have been exposed, to be ignored (...). From the perspective of world opinion, the Federal Republic of Germany must transmit the impression of an hypocritical morality, through verbally condemning torture, while allowing depositions obtained under use of force to be integrated into their own investigations."

Questions of Personnel

There could be no doubt pertaining to the extent of the accusations and their political contents with such a petition. The matter was in need of being solved as soon as possible. The Petition Committee responded, in fact, already within three weeks. The clerical assistant of the Petition Committee believed this petition concerned an issue of the Federal Border Guard (BGS). This he may have deduced from the fact that the petitioner, Robert Mayer, signed with the rank of police chief inspector of the BGS. This was a correct recognition of the identity, albeit a weird and false allocation of the contents, which is why the form letter response states as its reference: "Re: Personnel questions of the Federal Border Guard." The response explains that the Petition Committee does not get involved in alleged BGS matters but informed the petitioners under which reference number the petition had been filed: ("In all correspondence concerning this petition please give reference to: Pet 1-15-0621911-032005.")

No Dissention

When Mayer and Trede indignantly reacted, expressing the suspicion of an intentional false classification and demanding a parliamentary examination under the appropriate (torture) title of classification, the president of the Petition Committee, in the authority of his office, responded personally: as far as the torture procedures are concerned, writes Karlheinz Guttmacher (Free Democratic Party), this is, definitively and without further dissention, a "question of personnel." By the time this position statement was made, five months had elapsed from when the petition had been submitted. During this period, neither the protection sought by Trede and Mayer had been handled in any way, nor had the question of torture been investigated. This response was intended to be the final word. Eight months after the petition's submission, October 4, 2005, the Parliamentary Petition Committee, allegedly a citizen's tool, succinctly informed those petitioning because of the practice of torture:

"The parliamentary examination of your concern, has regrettably been delayed due to the parliamentary elections. As soon as the constitution of the Petition Committee for the new legislative period is established, your petition will be submitted to the MP elected to be the new committee reporter. After the conclusive consultations in the German Federal Parliament, I will inform you of the results."

Provided They Are Still Alive

The police chief inspector and the detective senior superintendent are still waiting on the results. And still waiting are also Haydar Zammar [4], Murat Kurnaz [5] and the other victims of an international "outsourcing" system of torture - that is, provided they are still alive.

[1] Schreiben vom 24.02.2005
[2] see also The Torturers
[3] Schreiben vom 24.02.2005
[4] see also Where is Haydar Zammar?, Wer ist "Sam", der deutsche Foltergesandte? and Täuschen und lügen
[5] see also In Accordance With the Law, Sofern sie noch leben and Interview mit Rechtsanwalt Bernhard Docke


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