Hamburg prosecutors seize Die Zeit podcast recordings in Christina Block trial
Prosecutors and state police visited the Hamburg offices of Die Zeit on Monday, 12 October, and threatened a search to obtain audio recordings made for a podcast. The Hamburg Regional Court says the material may be evidence in the trial of Christina Block and six co-defendants.
Prosecutors visit the Zeit newsroom
On Monday, 12 October, prosecutors from Hamburg and the state criminal police office (LKA) visited the Hamburg offices of the weekly Die Zeit, according to the publisher. They threatened a search of the editorial premises to obtain audio recordings made for the podcast ZEIT Verbrechen: House of Block. A search warrant had been issued for the business premises, and according to the court and the publisher it allowed voluntary handover. Investigators also sought alleged contracts with the people interviewed, which the publisher says do not exist. The search of the premises did not go ahead after an employee said the recordings were with a journalist.
The recordings and the journalist's flat
The court then issued a search warrant for the flat of a Zeit journalist based in Berlin. According to the court spokeswoman, the journalist said she was ready to hand the recordings over on a court order. She handed them over voluntarily, which prevented the search of her flat. The publisher says it objected to the seizure and handed the material over sealed, so that it cannot be evaluated until a court decides whether the seizure was lawful. The podcast, which Die Welt reports has six episodes, contains interviews with members of the family, including the children, recorded about two weeks after the New Year's Eve abduction at a safe house in Denmark.
Why the court wants the material
The 32nd Large Criminal Chamber of the Hamburg Regional Court, which hears the case, considers the recordings to have potential evidentiary value. According to the court, the conversations may touch on circumstances that have not yet been raised in the files or at the main hearing. The chamber also hopes the original recordings can help check the credibility of later witness testimony. The Regional Court considers the seizure justified because the material may help clear up a crime.
The Block trial and the Hanning detention
Christina Block and six co-defendants are on trial in Hamburg, facing charges that include child abduction and dangerous bodily harm, and Block denies the allegations. Press reports say employees of an Israeli security firm loaded the children, who lived with their father in Denmark, into a car and drove them to Block in Germany. Former BND head August Hanning was detained by police about a week earlier in a separate espionage investigation. Der Spiegel reported that he was suspected of involvement in an earlier possible abduction attempt, which Hanning denies. The trial continues on Tuesday, 13 October.
Zeit's response and legal steps
The publisher has filed a complaint and says it will take legal action. Editors-in-chief Giovanni di Lorenzo and Jochen Wegner said in a statement:
Press freedom includes, above all, the protection of sources, which is decisive for independent media. We will therefore defend ourselves with all legal means.
Die Welt reports that the Higher Regional Court and possibly the Federal Court of Justice could deal with the case. Mika Beuster, head of the German Journalists' Association (DJV), criticised the procedure, noting that it happened at the start of the Hamburg Press Freedom Week, now in its fourth year.
