BND agent on trial for treason
In the midst of the war in Ukraine, BND employee Carsten L. is alleged to have betrayed secret information to the Russian secret service. The trial against him and an alleged accomplice is now beginning in Berlin. The defendants face long prison sentences.
A trial for alleged espionage for Russia has begun in Berlin under strict security measures. An agent of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) is on trial before the Berlin Court of Appeal on suspicion of treason. A 32-year-old businessman has been charged as an alleged accomplice.
The two Germans are alleged to have betrayed secret information to the Russian secret service FSB in the fall of 2022 - a few months after the start of the Russian war against Ukraine - and received several hundred thousand euros each in return. Both defendants are in custody.
53-year-old Carsten L. from the German secret service BND was arrested in Berlin in December 2022. In January, businessman Arthur E. was arrested in Munich as a suspected accomplice when entering the country from the USA. So far, 51 trial days have been scheduled until July 2024.
Treason can be punished in particularly serious cases with a prison sentence of at least five years up to life imprisonment. This applies, for example, if the perpetrator abused a position of responsibility that placed him under a special obligation to protect state secrets.
Read also:
- Year of climate records: extreme is the new normal
- Precautionary arrests show Islamist terror threat
- SPD rules out budget resolution before the end of the year
- Numerous oil, gas and coal lobbyists at climate conference
Source: www.ntv.de
