German intelligence services engage in counterterrorism cooperation with countries with known records for torture, such as Uzbekistan, while government officials have, like their UK counterparts, publicly endorsed the use of foreign torture intelligence for operational purposes. As mentioned above, Jörg Schönbohm, at the time interior minister for the state of Brandenburg, went so far as to contemplate the direct use of torture in response to a terrorist threat. While the government insists on its commitment to the absolute prohibition on the use of torture evidence in legal proceedings, there are worrying signs that torture material has in fact been introduced in the judicial process. German jurisprudence on the exclusion of torture evidence places an impossibly stringent burden of proof on the person against whom the evidence is invoked. Intelligence Cooperation The external Federal Intelligence Service (BND)--under the Chancellor's Office--and the domestic Federal Bureau for Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, BfV)—under the Interior Ministry—are responsible for counterterrorism intelligence gathering. As the cases discussed below demonstrate, Germany partners in countering terrorism with countries like Uzbekistan and Pakistan. It cooperates with Uzbekistan, an authoritarian state with an appalling record on torture, partly motivated by concerns over alleged activities in Germany of the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), an Uzbek group that has claimed responsibility for several attacks in Uzbekistan (including on the US and Israeli embassies in July 2004). The German government has close diplomatic and security ties with Uzbekistan. It worked actively to ease EU sanctions imposed in the wake of the May 2005 massacre in Andijan, in eastern Uzbekistan, and the ensuing government crackdown on civil society. 97 Just days after the EU lifted a travel ban on eight Uzbek officials, including Rustam Inoyatov, the head of the notorious Uzbek National Security Service, in October 2008, the Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND) hosted security talks with Uzbek officials in Berlin. The Uzbek delegation included Inoyatov, a man whom many consider responsible for gross human rights abuses. 98 97 For more information on the Andijan massacre, see Human Rights Watch reports Burying the Truth: Uzbekistan Rewrites the Story of the Andijan Massacre, September 2005, http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2005/09/18/burying-truth-0 and Saving its Secrets: Government Repression in Andijan, May 2008, http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/05/11/savings-its-secrets-0. 98 Germany also engaged in security training for Uzbek officers while the sanctions were in place, despite the fact that the sanctions explicitly covered technical assistance, and hosted Zokirjon Almatov, then-Minister of Interior of Uzbekistan and number one on the EU’s visa ban list, when he traveled to Germany for medical treatment in November 2005. “No Questions Asked” 36