Germany opens criminal probe over Merkel phone tapping

Germany's federal prosecutors said Wednesday they had opened an investigation over alleged snooping on Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone by the US National Security Agency (NSA) in a case that has soured relations. The long-anticipated probe, which follows an explosive allegation last year that US spies had eavesdropped on Merkel's mobile phone conversations in the past, is against persons unknown, chief federal prosecutor Harald Range said.
"I informed parliament's legal affairs committee that I have started a preliminary investigation over tapping of a mobile phone of the chancellor," he said after addressing the committee. However, in a move that was condemned by opposition and Social Democrat lawmakers, he added that he had decided against opening an investigation into claims of wider NSA surveillance against German citizens. The latest move may again strain ties between Washington and its key European ally, Berlin, which both countries' leaders have been at pains to restore following the reports.
The claims embarrassed US President Barack Obama and led Merkel to comment that spying between friends is "just not done." Her spokesman declined to comment directly Wednesday saying the federal prosecutor had taken the decision "according to the letter of the law". The government had no right to influence, nor did it exert influence, in the discussion over whether to launch the probe, Steffen Seibert told reporters.
Data-sensitive Germans reacted with outrage to the accusations by fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, in a country where bitterness lingers about mass state spying on citizens by the Stasi secret police in former communist East Germany where Merkel grew up. "There are concrete facts which justify the suspicion of possible spying on a mobile phone of Chancellor Angela Merkel by unknown personnel of US intelligence services," a federal prosecutor's statement said. Range later said at a press conference it was not yet clear whether or when Snowden would be contacted as a witness. "We'll see whether and how," he said. But the decision to limit the probe to the allegation concerning Merkel's phone prompted criticism.