German police probe security camera spying on Merkel flat

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2006

BERLIN (AFP) — Federal police are probing the secret filming of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's home by a museum security camera for several years as a major security breach.

The mass-market Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported in a front-page story at the weekend that a security camera filming 24 hours a day at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin was often trained on Merkel's private apartment just opposite.

The report said the camera had a clear view inside Merkel's living room and had picked up black-and-white images of her husband, chemistry professor Joachim Sauer, watching television.

The museum, which houses a spectacular antiquities collection including the Pergamon Altar and the Ishtar Gate, confirmed the rooftop camera was able to rotate and zoom and its...