DRESDEN, Germany - Police raided the home of Wikileaks.de domain owner Theodor Reppe in Germany Tuesday evening, searching for "distribution of pornographic material" and "discovery of evidence."
Wikileaks maintains that Reppe has nothing to do with its content or operations. Eleven officers from Dresden and Jena conducted searches and would not provide Reppe with any additional information.
Wikileaks has gained prominence for recently publishing website censorship lists for Australia, Thailand, Denmark and other countries, as well as exposing other forms of censorship by national governments, along with shady international business dealings and religious oppression.
Wikileaks notes it was not contacted before the search, despite having two contributing journalists who are members of the German Press Association, Deutscher Presse Verband.
The site also said the raid was conducted on someone who is just a "volunteer assistant," adding police asked for the passwords to the Wikileaks.de domain and for the entire domain to be taken down. Also Reppe was not informed of his rights nor did he agree, as police claimed, to not having a witness present, according to official documents, which Reppe refused to sign because of the false information.
Wikileaks suggested the raid was tied to Germany's concerns over child pornography and hotly debated national censorship spearheaded by German family minister Ursula von der Leyen.
According to Wikileaks, Reppe only sponsors the site's German domain registration and mirrors Wikileaks US Congressional Research Service reports but is not involved day-to-day operations or the content that appears on the site.
Wikileaks, based in Sweden, has been target before, reports ARSTechnica. The site's opponents seeking to close it include Swiss bankers, the Mormon church, the church of Scientology and the chief of Germany's spy operations.
