Nov. 5 (UPI) — Germany’s former domestic intelligence chief was retired from all government offices after reiterating his denial of reports of anti-migrant “hunts” in the country.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Monday that Hans-Georg Maassen — who was removed as head of the domestic intelligence agency in September — would be denied a promised post as a special adviser in the Interior Ministry.
“I have asked the president to place the head of the domestic security service in early retirement,” Seehofer said.
Massen was ordered to leave his position as the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, or BfV, in September when he denied anti-migrant “hunts” reported in Chemnitz, eastern Germany on Aug. 26 after a German was killed in a fight with migrants.
Seehofer originally supported Maassen, stating he had “high regard for Mr. Maassen’s abilities on questions of domestic security” when he was given the position as deputy minister of the Interior Ministry through a deal with the Social Democrat Party.
However, Seehofer said that a farewell speech that Maassen delivered to other European intelligence chiefs in Warsaw last month, in which he repeated his past statements that media had “made up” the anti-migrant hunts, was the reason for his dismissal.
In the October speech, Maassen criticized the Social Democrat Party, which called for his ouster, stating it harbored “left wing forces.”
Seehofer stated the speech made a trusting relationship with Maassen impossible.
“I consider it unacceptable to speak of ‘radical left’ elements in parts of the SPD and describing security and migration policy as naive and left … also crosses a line in my view,” he said.
