Edathy to face trial on child porn charges

The regional court in the town of Verden in northwestern Germany ordered on Tuesday that there is enough evidence to put Sebastian Edathy, a former member of the Bundestag lower house of parliament, on trial for child pornography charges. It set February 23 of next year as the date for the start of the proceedings.

Edathy stands accused of using his Bundestag-issued laptop to download child pornography on seven occasions in November of last year. He is also accused of possessing a book of photos and a CD containing child pornographic images. He has denied any wrongdoing, arguing that while he did posess nude images, none of them could be classified as illegal under German law.

If found guilty, Edathy could face a fine or up to two years in jail.

Edathy, 44, had been a rising star in the Social Democratic Party, which is part of Chancellor Angela Merkel's grand coalition government.

However, he resigned from his seat in parliament back in February, just days before police searched both his home and offices.

The investigation into Edathy is reported to have been launched after police obtained a list of German customers of a Canadian firm that sold nude images of young males between 2005 and 2010.

Second political casualty

The case also led to the resignation of Hans-Peter Friedrich of the Christian Social Union, who was Germany's interior minister at the time. Friedrich stepped down last year, when he was agriculture minister after tipping off the leadership of the SPD that Edathy was secretly under investigation. This came at a time when negotiations towards the formation of Merkel's grand coalition were taking place - including who would get which cabinet posts.

Edathy rose to prominence in Germany when he headed a parliamentary committee looking into why police and intelligence services failed to stop a neo-Nazi murder spree.

pfd/ksb (dpa, AP)