State secrecy probe has no place in Germany -OSCE

VIENNA, Aug 9 (Reuters) A criminal investigation against 17 German journalists suspected of violating state secrecy laws has no place in a democracy like Germany and should be dropped, Europe's main security and rights watchdog said today.

There have been a series of protests against the inquiry launched by state prosecutors under the conservative Christian Democrats of Chancellor Angela Merkel after intelligence agency were published by several major German media outlets.

Miklos Haraszti, media watchdog chief for the 56-nation Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), called on Germany to cease the criminal proceedings.

''Initiating proceedings against the media merely in retaliation for their publishing, with the aim of deterring them from similar editorial decisions, is inadmissible in a society proud of its press freedoms,'' he said in a statement.

''I call on the German authorities to stop prosecuting the journalists and ensure that media professionals can continue informing the public of important matters without intimidation.'' Opposition parties and some members of Merkel's grand coalition government have complained that the inquiry, also targeting unnamed politicians and aides suspected of leaking the documents to journalists, violates press freedom guarantees.

Siegfried Kauder, a parliamentary leader in Merkel's CDU, said he launched the probe after secret documents were published because the chancellery threatened that his committee overseeing the BND intelligence agency would otherwise be denied access.

Kauder said he was tired of reading more details from classified documents in media reports than what were given to his committee.

His committee was formed last year to look into whether the BND violated human rights while fighting terrorism.

REUTERS GL KN1729