Federal Constitutional Court hears case on the powers of the Federal Criminal Police Office
They are supported by the Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF). They believe that the challenged rules in the Federal Criminal Police Office Act violate their fundamental right to informational self-determination. At the moment, the regulations allow the surveillance of too many people, said their legal representative Bijan Moini in court.
He criticized the merging of data in a central collection. This poses the risk of data being taken out of context, he said. People could end up in the database as suspects without having actually committed a crime and be treated more harshly by the police in future.
Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) defended the powers of the BKA before the hearing in Karlsruhe with the protection of citizens from terrorism, for example. "New crime phenomena also need answers from the state," she said. The security situation in Germany has changed. During an ongoing investigation, no time should be lost in linking different systems.
In his introduction, Court President Stephan Harbarth announced that the trial would "once again lead the court into the area of tension between the state's security mandate and the protection of individual liberties".
The challenged law regulates the tasks and powers of the BKA and its cooperation with the criminal investigation offices of the federal states. This is not the first time the Constitutional Court has dealt with this: it partially rejected an earlier version in 2016, and the law was amended in 2017. A ruling is not yet expected on Wednesday. It is usually issued a few months after the hearing.
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Source: www.stern.de
