StA Berlin: New focus department for Encrochat
It’s about drug trafficking, illegal arms sales or money laundering. Criminals have used the Encrochat messenger service for their business. In the meantime, the data has been decrypted and the StA Berlin is gearing up for prosecution.
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At the Berlin public prosecutor’s office, lawyers take up work in a new department specializing in the so-called Encrochat procedure. By the summer, the team is to be increased to seven public prosecutors in addition to the department head, such as authority spokesman Martin Steltner German press agency said. There are currently around 80 investigations pending at the public prosecutor’s office in connection with decrypted data from the Encrochat messenger service.
Ten lawsuits have been filed, nine of them at the Regional Court (LG) Berlin. There is currently a trial against a member of a well-known Arab clan as the main defendant under increased security precautions.
The encryption software Encrochat was used by organized crime to conduct illegal business. The service was considered unbreakable because of its extensive encryption. The police in the Netherlands and France managed to siphon off millions of secret data last year. This led to numerous arrests across Europe. The use of these chats for law enforcement is legally not without controversy.
“Encrochat” data admissible as evidence
Several federal states are increasing the staff in the police and judiciary. As with the LG Leipzig, there will also be new criminal chambers in the LG Berlin in order to negotiate the Encrochat proceedings. More than 700 investigations into decrypted data from the messenger service are still pending at the Berlin police, as the Senate announced in a response to a left-wing inquiry dated November 18, 2021.
The LG Berlin caused a sensation with a decision on the Encrochat data from July 2021. The monitoring is a non-interference in the telecommunications basic right from Art. 10 Basic Law (GG) and in the so-called IT basic right from Art. 2 para. 1 in conjunction with Art. 1 para. 1 GG., Determines the Berlin judges in comparison to other higher court decisions. The Kammergericht (KG) reversed the decision a short time later.
Most of the suspicious chats are supposed to be about drug trafficking, often also about trafficking in weapons or weapons of war such as submachine guns, as well as money laundering. The Berlin police evaluated 1.64 million data records from text messages, voice messages, photos and videos from the decrypted and tapped smartphones.
dpa / mgö / LTO editorial team