The Göttingen Police Directorate (PD) has now acknowledged the illegality of the mass data collection on leftists in Göttingen in the various legal proceedings. In a statement to the Göttingen Administrative Court, the PD announced that the data collection was formally unlawful because there was no file description for the folder system called "LIMO". Eleven of the 23 legal proceedings in this matter have thus already ended in favor of the plaintiffs (Case Nos.: 1 A 170/17 et al.).
The 4th Specialist Unit (State Security) of the Göttingen Police Inspectorate (PI) possessed at least five illegally compiled files containing personal data on leftists in Göttingen until 2016. This covertly compiled data collection included (or contains) names, addresses, physical characteristics, religious affiliations, places of employment, information about social media profiles, group memberships, and photographs of hundreds of individuals. There is no connection between the data and any ongoing investigations against the individuals or specific events. The files were allegedly destroyed before the data collection became public knowledge. The police have not disclosed by whom or when exactly – and apparently, no deletion log exists.
“We would have liked to learn more about the background of this unlawful and absurdly large data collection through further proceedings. However, contrary to public promises made by the police leadership, the police directorate's conduct during the proceedings was not geared towards clarification. The court was not even provided with an administrative file for review until the very end,” states attorney Sven Adam, who represents the plaintiffs.
The other 12 legal proceedings (file numbers: 1 A 173/17, 1 A 175/17 et al.) which have not yet been recognized concern additional data collection through covert investigations that became known at the same time and the unjustified posting of photos of politically active persons from Göttingen on a bulletin board in the premises of the State Security Police Inspectorate Göttingen. "Even in these proceedings, the police are either unable or unwilling to explain why the data of the specific individuals concerned were collected in the first place. There is also reportedly no documentation offiles," Adam complains about the police directorate's avoidance strategy in the proceedings, citing case law according to which the enforcement of the law, as a self-evident task of administrative action, is inconceivable without documentation of the individual administrative processes (e.g., Wiesbaden Administrative Court, judgment of December 28, 2016, case no.: 6 K 332/16.WI; Federal Constitutional Court, judgment of June 6, 1983, case nos.: 2 BvR 244/83 and 2 BvR 310/83).
Meanwhile, it has come to light that state security officers, without a court order or directive from their superiors, have been following individuals even while they were shopping or walking home from the city, without any documented reason or justification. Two further lawsuits concerning this conduct have now been filed with the Göttingen Administrative Court.
“In the pending and new legal proceedings, there is still a chance to clarify the conduct of the State Security Department of the Göttingen Police Inspectorate. We have therefore now requested the questioning of various police officers in an oral hearing before the Göttingen Administrative Court,” Adam concluded.
