Between the years 2000-2013 up to 850 asylum seekers were approached by the German Intelligence services (BND) in order to get intelligence information from them. In exchange for their cooperation, the asylum seekers were offered a protected status.
ARCHIV – Der Eingang zur Zentrale des Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), aufgenommen am 25.11.2015 in Berlin. Foto: Michael Kappeler/dpa (zu dpa “Gesetzentwurf: Kanzleramt will BND an kürzere Leine legen” am 19.01.2016) +++(c) dpa – Bildfunk+++
The German Spiegel Online revealed the information that the media source gained access to a response of the Federal Government to the request of the Left faction in the Parliament.
According to the document, German intelligence services promised migrants a better life and offered them a protection status which they probably would not be able to obtain under normal conditions.
BND also promised potential informants an improvement of their legal situation in exchange for the required information.
Martina Renner, representative of the Left Party said that “this is not only morally unacceptable when intelligence services continue to put pressure on refugees, the veracity of the received information should also be questioned.”
Even though a BND department which was dealing with refugees was closed back in 2014 this did not stop the intelligence services to continue receiving the information from migrant informants on a “voluntary basis”, as they say.
In an interview done for Spiegel Online magazine, the German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière warned that the government in Berlin only has a few weeks left to solve the refugee problem.
If the problem won´t be solved by spring he fears that Europe’s open-border policies may soon end.
Mario Andrijasevic
South Front
