No trial in the case of the Ringier magazine Cicero

In the case of the Ringier magazine Cicero, there will definitely be no trial against SonntagsBlick's head of foreign affairs Johannes von Dohnanyi and author Bruno Schirra. The two journalists had been charged with aiding and abetting the betrayal of secrets. After the Potsdam district court had already refused to allow a lawsuit (see "No trial against Cicero journalist Bruno Schirra"), the public prosecutor's office lodged an appeal. However, a Brandenburg court rejected this. The reason given was that a conviction of the journalists was not likely. The regional court's decision is therefore legally binding, as reported by SDA. The background to the charges against von Dohnanyi and Schirra was a Cicero article in which, according to the public prosecutor's office, an internal report by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) on the Iraqi terrorist leader Abu Mussab al-Sarkawi, who has since been killed, was quoted. In the search for the leak at the BKA, the editorial offices of Cicero in Potsdam and Schirra's Berlin apartment were searched on September 12, 2005 (see
"Editorial office of Ringier magazine Cicero searched"). The Cicero editorial team has appealed to the Federal Constitutional Court about this action.