German eavesdropping law goes before supreme court

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Critics of a German law allowing authorities to eavesdrop on conversations in private homes took their case to the supreme court Tuesday, arguing that the five-year-old measure is unconstitutional.

While law enforcement officials and the government argue that the law helps fight organized crime and terrorism, opponents contend it violates constitutional privacy guarantees and has not allowed authorities to crack a single major case.

Passed under former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the law was controversial because of the legacy of the Nazi police state and decades of snooping by the Stasi, the secret police in communist East Germany.

Three members of the small opposition Free Democratic Party are leading the challenge in the Federal Constitutional Court, which is expected to rule by the fall.

Speaking for the plaintiffs at the opening hearing, former parliamentary vice president Burkhard Hirsch said the notion that people were no longer safe from eavesdropping in their homes violated human dignity. He criticized the government for refusing to present a detailed report of the costs and effectiveness of the measures.

Chief federal prosecutor Kay Nehm, whose agency investigates terrorism, defended the law as an effective anti-crime tool. Federal prosecutors have planted bugs in four cases since the law passed in 1998, he said.

Terror attacks cannot be prevented simply by tapping telephone lines because suspects often will use several mobile phones and switch even in mid-conversation, he testified.

Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries, representing the government, said bugging was used only as a last resort. Overall, German authorities plant bugs in homes in about 30 cases a year, she said.