Parliament - Toure:_ No screenshots of chats with Samadzade
Minister of Social Affairs Aminata Touré (Greens) stated that she does not have screenshots of chats with her dismissed State Secretary Marjam Samadzade, according to her own statements. The state government, unlike Samadzade's claims in the Interior and Legal Affairs Committee of the Schleswig-Holstein State Parliament last week, also has no knowledge of the existence of such screenshots, Touré stated in a special session of the committee.
"What was literally in the chats, I cannot reconstruct word-for-word after nine months, but I can only make assumptions." Touré stated that she used a response from Samadzade to terminate the employment relationship. She had repeatedly asked Samadzade to report in, as she did not respond.
Question about proper record keeping
Above all, MPs from the opposition factions want to find out if Touré violated the rules for record keeping by deleting chat logs. According to ministry records, all relevant communication was recorded for the files.
Samadzade had requested a written assurance during the session last week that no disciplinary consequences would result if she presented the chats to the committee. This assurance is now available. Samadzade did not attend the session this time due to time reasons. She is now scheduled to be questioned in September.
Critical post about Israel from Samadzade
Touré had previously defended Samadzade's dismissal due to the dissemination of an anti-Israel post. Samadzade had shown a lack of political sensitivity.
Samadzade had posted on the Instagram platform on October 17, 2023, criticizing and condemning the actions of the Israeli government in response to a Hamas terror attack. Two days later, Touré announced that Silke Schiller-Tobies would succeed Samadzade as State Secretary on November 1. Samadzade only announced that she had to leave earlier due to a post on October 25.
The FDP had accused Touré of not fully answering a minor inquiry from the Liberals regarding the background of Samadzade's premature departure. In their response on October 20, 2023, the ministry only wrote, "State Secretary Marjam Samadzade has stated that she wants to leave her position as State Secretary and return to her position at the Justice Administration in Hamburg on her own accord." This was three days after the post.
- During the special session of the Legal Affairs Committee in the State Parliament of Schleswig-Holstein, Minister of Social Affairs Aminata Toure expressed that she does not have physical evidence of chat conversations with herformer State Secretary Marjam Samadzade, despite claims made in their previous meeting.
- Aminata Toure also revealed in the same session that the state government has no records or knowledge of any chat screenshots between herself and Samadzade, echoing Toure's own statement about her inability to recall specific details from the conversations.
- As a result of the MPs' concerns about proper record keeping after Samadzade's dismissal, a legal process is underway, where Aminata Toure will be questioned about any potential violation of record keeping rules due to deleted chat logs.
