14 DAY TRIAL // The German parliament has finally kicked off the hearings into the NSA spying practices, months after it’s been revealed that the American intelligence agency has been snooping on the country’s citizens and political leaders.
Some voices in the German Parliament have even suggested that it might be a good idea to bring in Edward Snowden to testify, despite what the United States might have to say about this. The NSA whistleblower is currently in Russia where he has been offered temporary asylum.
The German authorities are looking for evidence regarding the NSA’s actions that have violated the state’s sovereignty. The Snowden files have revealed thus far that the agency has been spying on Angela Merkel for years.
She wasn’t the only state leader to be on the NSA’s target list, but the agency still generated over 300 reports on her in a single year, despite the partnership between the two countries.
Even worse, that particular report indicated the British intelligence agency GCHQ was also involved in the spying, which will probably create some tense moments within the European Union.
The German investigation committee is led by Clemense Binninger who doesn’t really expect the United States to give any type of help in this entire process. This isn’t exactly surprising considering that the US has basically refused to sign a no-spy agreement with Berlin, while questions about the reports that appeared in the media were left unanswered by Washington.
Either way, the outcome of the investigation is predictable, especially since Binninger made it clear that mass surveillance of citizens will not be tolerated.
On top of the US spying on the German government, it’s also been revealed that it collects tens of millions of records from regular citizens that are not suspected of any involvement in criminal acts or terrorism connections, as well as local companies.
As mentioned, many parliament members are hoping to get the approval to invite Edward Snowden to tell his story live. This would most likely anger the United States who has taken advantage of its relationship with European nations to block off Snowden’s path before. This time around, however, Europe seems less and less likely to bow down to the United States, especially after most countries have been on the target list.
Snowden has already expressed his willingness to assist in any investigations necessary and has responded to a series of questions from the European Parliament.