German intelligence service targets former boss — report

A former president of Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Hans-Georg Maassen, is under investigation by his former agency, the German newspaper Bild reported on Wednesday.

Maassen, who was removed from his post after appearing to downplay far-right violence against migrants, is a member of former Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democrats (CDU).

Request was made to police

As part of the investigation, Bild said the BfV asked the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) for information about Maassen.

The former BfV head reportedly said he was "outraged" and would "request information about what data my former employees store about me."

Bild reported that a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for both the BfV and the BKA, did not deny that there had been a query about Maassen.

"We do not comment on individual matters, if only for reasons of privacy protection," she told the newspaper.

Maassen said if he was under BfV investigation it would amount to political persecution.

"If this is true, then it is obvious that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is no longer being used to protect the constitution, but is being misused to protect the government and to fight and politically persecute government critics," he said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.

CDU attempt to remove from party

Maassen was forced from his post as the president of Germany's domestic intelligence service in 2018 after he appeared to dismiss the seriousness of apparent right-wing violence in the eastern city of Chemnitz.

He ran unsuccessfully as CDU candidate in the 2021 general election in Thuringia. 

The leadership of the CDU has accused Maassen of using the language of conspiracy theorists and anti-Semites. The 60-year-old has attracted criticism for various statements made on social media.

Party leaders had sought to expel him for tweets about "eliminatory racism against whites," but a party committee in Thuringia ruled last month that he could stay.

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