Jörg Tauss (born 5 July 1953) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

politician and former member of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(SPD). He was born in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. From 2000 to 2009, Tauss was the spokesperson of the Education and Research workgroup of the SPD in the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

. He also served within that time as regional party general secretary for

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

. On 6 March 2009, his home and offices in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

were raided by the LKAs of both Berlin and Baden-Württemberg in a search for

child pornography Child pornography (also abbreviated as CP, also called child porn or kiddie porn, and child sexual abuse material, known by the acronym CSAM (underscoring that children can not be deemed willing participants under law)), is Eroticism, erotic ma ...

which he had allegedly obtained on his mobile phone. Although he claimed that the raid and investigation were politically motivated, he resigned from all government posts on 7 March, and was stripped of his

parliamentary immunity Parliamentary immunity, also known as legislative immunity, is a system in which politicians or other political leaders are granted full immunity from legal prosecution, both civil prosecution and criminal prosecution, in the course of the exe ...

on the same day. Prosecutors began the investigation after they had obtained access to phone numbers and addresses found on the mobile phone of a

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man who was suspected of participation in a child pornography ring. He stated on 11 March that he had purchased the material only for investigation purposes pertinent to his office. He reports that his research suggests that child pornography is typically distributed by MMS and traditional mail, so that blocking websites is ineffective. On 20 June 2009, Tauss announced he was leaving the SPD for the

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in protest against that party's support of legislation that would block child pornography websites, which he said would set up a technical infrastructure of

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

without judicial review. On 1 July, Tauss appealed the law because of formal reasons at the

Federal Constitutional Court The Federal Constitutional Court ( ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its inception with the beginning of the post-W ...

in Karlsruhe. On 8 September 2009, he was stripped of his parliamentary immunity and the next day he was formally charged. In May 2010 he got a suspended prison sentence of 15 months. The judge concluded that he had been active in the online child pornography scene for private reasons rather than out of political motives relating to his parliamentary work. However, the judge did not think his motivation had necessarily been sexual, it could have been sheer curiosity. 'This is a judgement which I cannot live with and do not want to live with,' Tauss said after the trial. He announced he would appeal the verdict, which became final on 24 August 2010, as the

Federal Court of Justice The Federal Court of Justice ( , ) is the highest court of Private law, civil and Criminal law, criminal jurisdiction in Germany. Its primary responsibility is the final appellate review of decisions by lower courts for errors of law. While, le ...

rejected his appeal as "manifestly unfounded" ("offensichtlich unbegründet").Website des Bundesgerichtshofs
''Urteil gegen ehemaligen Bundestagsabgeordneten wegen Sichverschaffens kinderpornographischer Schriften rechtskräftig''
retrieved 7 October 2010.Frankfurter Rundschau

31 August 2010, retrieved 31 August 2010.

References

External links

Tauss′ own press release on accusation of child pornography
(PDF, German)
Tauss′ website

Tauss′ old website
*
Tauss′ profile
on

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*
Tauss′ profile
on

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Solidaritaet mit Jörg Tauss
– A German website that defends Tauss {{DEFAULTSORT:Tauss, Jorg 1953 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for Baden-Württemberg Politicians from Stuttgart Members of Chaos Computer Club German hackers German politicians convicted of crimes Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany