The public prosecutorʼs office in Potsdam has decided not to open a case against Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his wife, Brandenburg Education Minister, Britta Ernst, who threw confidential documents in the trash. The initial suspicion of violation of state secrets was not confirmed.
This is reported by the German newspaper Der Spiegel.
According to the prosecutor, the information found in the general garbage container of the house where Scholz and Ernst live was not classified. The same information can be found, for example, by searching the Internet. And even if the information was classified, it would not endanger important public interests, the prosecutorʼs office believes, but it would be a prerequisite for further consideration of this issue.
In July, Der Spiegel reported that neighbors had found parts of Ernstʼs meeting calendar and a document on the G7 summit in Elmau in the household waste of the apartment complex where the chancellors live in Potsdam. Among the findings are short profiles of partners of heads of state and government, which were marked as "secret information — for official use only."
According to the newspaper, the information contained in the document was not particularly spicy. However, there are still strict rules for handling such documents, in particular regarding disposal. According to the rules, such documents must be destroyed "in such a way that their content cannot be recognized."