BND employee suspected of espionage

Espionage - BND employee suspected of espionage - start of trial

No laptops, cell phones, even wristwatches and personal pens are not allowed in the courtroom. Because the case involves treason and state secrets, the strictest security precautions are in place for the trial at the Berlin Court of Appeal.

In the midst of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, an employee of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) is alleged to have spied for Moscow. Just under a year ago, the news shocked politicians and authorities just before Christmas. Since Wednesday, the BND employee, who has been sworn to secrecy since 2007, has been on trial. A Russian-born businessman is also on trial.

Treason committed for "agent's pay"?

The federal prosecutor's office accuses them of treason in a particularly serious case. 53-year-old Carsten L. and his alleged accomplice Arthur E. (32) are said to have betrayed secret information to the Russian secret service FSB in the fall of 2022. According to the indictment, they are said to have received an "agent's fee" of 450,000 euros and 400,000 euros respectively. The two Germans are on remand in prison in Berlin-Moabit.

In the courtroom, they sit a little apart from each other in a glass box behind their lawyers. There is no visible contact.

Forbidden exchange in custody

In prison, however, the defendants are said to have communicated in writing with the help of a helper. The responsible 6th criminal senate therefore sees a risk of absconding as well as a risk of concealment and has extended the existing arrest warrant accordingly, as the presiding judge Detlev Schmidt announced during the trial.

While Carsten L. has so far remained silent about the allegations, his alleged accomplice is said to have made extensive statements. In the view of the BND employee's defense lawyer, Johannes Eisenberg, the statements are "highly volatile" and the 32-year-old is an "unreliable person". "There is no objective evidence whatsoever that the betrayal that is the subject of the indictment took place," Eisenberg explained in a statement published on Wednesday.

During the forbidden correspondence in custody, L. is said to have asked the co-defendant to retract all statements. Then "the matter would quickly be off the table - otherwise eight years plus", Judge Schmidt quoted from a letter that was found in prison on November 25. The court assumes that L. is the author of the document.

Internal documents printed out and photographed

According to the indictment, the BND employee and the businessman, who traded in gemstones among other things, have known each other since May 2021. The soldier and his alleged accomplice are said to have decided to betray the secret in September 2022 at the latest. According to the investigation, the 53-year-old allegedly printed out nine internal BND documents at his workstations in Berlin and Pullach near Munich in September and October 2022 or photographed them from his work computer and passed them on to the businessman. The businessman is said to have offered the BND employee the prospect of participating in an ore mining project.

There are said to have been two handovers. One at a sports field at his place of work in Pullach, Bavaria; another in Berlin, where L. had an apartment. The businessman is said to have acted as an intermediary and handed over the documents to the Russian secret service FSB in Moscow. He is said to have traveled to Moscow three times.

A Russian businessman is also said to have played a key role in the case, which is one of the most spectacular espionage cases of recent years. He is said to have arranged the contact with the FSB. According to the indictment, he also booked and financed the businessman's flights. According to investigators, he is being investigated in separate proceedings.

Exclusion of the public due to secrecy

However, senior public prosecutor Lars Malskies did not initially provide any further details during the reading of the indictment. After almost 20 minutes, he interrupted his presentation and requested that the public be excluded because the indictment contained information that required special secrecy.

The defence sharply criticized this. "You should stop with the secrecy," said Johannes Eisenberg, lawyer for the BND employee. In order for the public to be able to assess the case, a public hearing was necessary. Giuseppe Olivio, defense attorney for the co-defendant businessman, added: "What is supposed to be kept secret here is already an open secret for other states."

Negotiations on how to proceed in this matter were then held in camera. This was very controversial, explained Judge Schmidt afterwards. A number of aspects had been mentioned that the Senate wanted and needed to consider at its leisure.

Trial interrupted for deliberation

The court therefore interrupted the trial after almost two and a half hours and intends to continue it this Thursday. By then, it should be decided whether or not the trial will continue in public.

According to court spokeswoman Lisa Jani, it is to be expected that this topic will play a role again and again due to the large amount of information classified as secret. There are initially 51 trial days scheduled until July 17, 2024. However, it could well be that the trial goes beyond the summer, according to Jani.