Indian-origin former German MP Sebastian Edathy, who faces trial on charges of possessing child pornography, has said that it was morally wrong to order photos and videos of nude children, but maintained that it was not in violation of the law.
"I have made mistakes. It was certainly wrong to order these films, but it was legal," he told a news conference here yesterday.
He said his case raised the question of whether "legal behaviour of a person can be made the subject of public scandalisation in a constitutional state."
A judge at the regional court in Verden in the state of Lower Saxony, which is scheduled to open proceedings against him on February 23, had offered to suspend the case in return for the payment of a fine.
The parties involved are examining this offer, he said.
This was Edathy's first public appearance since he laid down his seat in the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament on February 7, shortly before prosecutors opened an investigation against him on suspicion of involvement in child pornography and raided his house and offices.
A week later, Hans-Peter Friedrich, the then interior minister, stepped down for leaking intelligence information about Edathy's involvement in child pornography to his Social Democratic Party's (SPD) leadership.
Edathy said he was informed by his former party colleague Michael Hartmann at the SPD's congress in Leipzig on November 15 that his name was traced in a list of German clients of a Canadian supplier of child pornography received by intelligence services and prosecutors were preparing to open an investigation against him.
Hartmann received this information directly from former president of Germany's external intelligence service BND Joerg Ziercke, he said.
Both Hartmann and Ziercke have denied these charges.
Edathy said he was not informed by the SPD's leadership nor did he make contact with it or with the party's parliamentary group.
However, he believed that SPD's parliamentary group leader Thomas Oppermann knew about it long before the investigations were launched.
Oppermann tried to convince him through Hartmann that laying down his Bundestag seat "will be in the interest of everybody," Edathy said.
Edathy and Hartmann were later questioned by lawmakers at a parliamentary committee, which is investigating the circumstances leading to Edathy's resignation and whether he was informed about an impending investigation.
He is also accused of possessing an illustrated book and a CD containing child pornography material.
Edathy has all along argued that the photos and videos he had acquired were not classified as child pornography under the German law and therefore he did not do anything illegal.
