Dhe former head of the Federal Office for Cyber Security in Information Technology (BSI), Arne Schönbohm, demands a cease-and-desist declaration and monetary compensation of 100,000 euros from ZDF. Schönbohm had lost his job because of an issue of the ZDF program “Magazine Royale” by Jan Böhmermann.
Böhmermann sends, Faeser throws out
The ZDF entertainer accused the former BSI boss of maintaining close contact with a company linked to the Russian secret service through a lobby association. Because of this presentation on ZDF, which was headed “How a Russian company hacks Germany undisturbed”, Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) dismissed the BSI boss from his post in November last year.
Of course, there were doubts about the validity of Böhmermann’s presentation from the start. The Ministry of the Interior found no evidence of disciplinary proceedings against Schönbohm. The reason given for the transfer was a “disrupted relationship of trust”. Today Schönbohm directs the federal academy for public administration.
“Denounced, in a lucidly derogatory way”
His lawyer Markus Hennig makes serious allegations against ZDF. The cease and desist order, says Hennig in an interview with the FAZ, is about the allegation that Arne Schönbohm was in contact with the Russian intelligence service or the intelligence services of other countries. The impression was given that there was a security leak at the BSI. “Mr. Böhmermann not only denounced Mr. Schönbohm, but also did so in a lucidly derogatory way by portraying him as a ‘cyber clown’. So my client was not only exposed to false suspicion, but also to malice. Unfortunately, this fits into a social climate in which prejudice against people is accepted as acceptable. The monetary compensation that we are demanding is solely about the satisfaction that Mr. Schönbohm is entitled to for this damage to his reputation.”
In his program, Böhmermann not only accused the former BSI boss of deliberate contact with the Russian secret service and the services of other countries, but also conjured up an “unknown, huge, bubbling leak in the German IT competence pipeline” and postulated: “Cyber security in Germany is in danger, and it is by the chief of cybersecurity in Germany.”
Böhmermann and ZDF should refrain from making these statements. Attorney Hennig explains to ZDF that this is “untrue reporting” and a “serious violation of personal rights”. The federal government’s investigations had “publicly revealed that the allegations made are untrue”. The Böhmermann broadcast is “one of the dirtiest denunciations” “which has ever been carried out by a public broadcaster and thus by a state broadcaster financed by taxpayers’ money”.
ZDF’s answer to this reproach is extremely brief, even when asked in detail by the FAZ. “The letter is available to ZDF,” it says. “The submission of a cease and desist declaration as well as monetary compensation in the said amount is required. The ZDF has rejected the demands. “Your understanding is requested that you “do not want to comment further on this process”. A request to the Federal Ministry of the Interior about the process went unanswered.
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