(HRNW) – The wiretapping was ordered as part of an investigation over suspicions that members of the group were “forming or supporting a criminal organisation”, a spokesman for the Munich public prosecution’s office said.
The Last Generation, known for gluing themselves to roads to draw attention to the climate crisis, condemned the eavesdropping, calling it “absurd”.
Conversations between members of the group and journalists making media inquiries were among the calls monitored, the prosecutors’ spokesman said.
While the journalists themselves were not targeted, they “were affected by the measures due to calls made via the monitored telephone numbers,” he said.
The Sueddeutsche newspaper first revealed the wiretapping on Saturday, reporting that the surveillance had begun last October. The surveillance included monitoring emails, voice mail accounts and logging the GPS data of mobile phones, the paper reported.
Reacting to the news, The Last Generation group wrote on Twitter: “We protest showing our names and faces, publish our plans, accept the legal consequences.