he whole affair was sparked by a complaint from the country’s domestic spook service, the Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution (BfV). Beckedahl said they must answer for their involvement.

“The departure of Harald Range is a first step, but he is not the main person responsible. The BfV is the one that went after us. We want to know who is responsible politically. They have been investigating for two and a half months and none of the executive claims to know about it. Either the government is full of incompetent people, which I can’t really believe, or there is a cover-up,” he said.