German Authorities Lack Evidence To Prosecute Anyone For NSA Spying 107
jfruh (300774) writes "The revelations about the NSA's surveillance program caused particular outrage in Germany, a country that is closely allied with the United States but nevertheless found that its leader's cell phone was being snooped on. Nevertheless, the German federal prosecutor's office will not be bringing any charges against anyone, mostly because they lack enough evidence (Google translation). The decision is sparking anger among German privacy advocates."
Re:That's too bad (Score:2, Informative)
Well, apparently the Germans figured out that the spying wasn't "discovered", so much as "leaked by Snowden".
Alas, without names, dates, actual evidence, it's pretty hard to turn "Snowden said..." into actual prosecution and prison sentences and all that.
Especially if it turns out that the guilty parties are in the USA, and have been the whole time. Do you REALLY think we're going to extradite our intelligence analysts to Germany to stand trial?
Re:talk about terrorists (Score:2, Informative)
No, the USA "brings charges against" these guys. "Prosecution" requires a trial before a Judge and Jury. Which in turns requires a defendant who is PRESENT for the trial. We have no legal provision for Trial in Absentia in the USA (hence Kerry saying Snowden should "come back to the US to stand trial").
No, the USA simply sends drones to kill unwanted persons without any of that.