Suspicion of espionage - BND employee on trial

Secret service - Suspicion of espionage - BND employee on trial

The federal prosecutor's office considers it treason: an employee of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) is alleged to have given Russia secret information.

Almost a year after the arrest of the 53-year-old, the trial into one of the most spectacular espionage cases of recent years begins today in Berlin under high security precautions. A 32-year-old diamond dealer is also on trial as an alleged accomplice.

The accusations of the federal prosecutor

The two Germans are alleged to have passed on secret information to the Russian secret service FSB in two cases in the fall of 2022 - a few months after the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The latter is said to have paid both defendants for their services: BND employee Carsten L. with 450,000 euros and businessman Arthur E. with at least 400,000 euros.

According to the investigators, Carsten L. allegedly printed out or photographed nine internal BND documents at his workstations in Berlin and Pullach near Munich in September and October 2022. Arthur E. then allegedly handed over the secret information he had spied on to the Russian secret service and met with FSB employees in Moscow on several occasions. The meetings were allegedly arranged by a Russian businessman whom E. knew. According to the indictment, he also booked and financed the businessman's flights.

The arrest of the men

Carsten L. was arrested in Berlin on December 21, 2022 and his home and workplace were searched. Arthur E. was arrested in January 2023 as a suspected accomplice when entering the country from the USA at Munich Airport. The investigation was conducted in close cooperation with the BND and with the support of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), it was reported at the time. Both men have been in custody since then. On August 24, the federal prosecutor's office filed charges.

How the trial will proceed

According to the court, 51 trial days are initially scheduled until July 17, 2024. Due to a great deal of information classified as secret, the trial could take place partly in camera. Strict security measures are in place. Cell phones and laptops are not permitted in the courtroom. Wristwatches or jewelry such as signet rings or medallions may not be worn either. Even fountain pens or ballpoint pens are taboo. According to the court, pens are provided on site for taking notes.

"When it comes to secret services, you have to take your cue from James Bond," commented court spokeswoman Lisa Jani on the procedure. Such strict security measures were also in place during the trial for the spectacular kidnapping of the Vietnamese ex-manager Trinh Xuan Thanh in Berlin in the summer of 2017. In 2018, the Berlin Court of Appeal sentenced a defendant, also from Vietnam, and in 2023 an accomplice to several years in prison for secret service agent activities and aiding and abetting the deprivation of liberty.

Assessment by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office

According to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, the current espionage case is a state secret within the meaning of the German Criminal Code. In both cases, the disclosure of these secrets is said to have led to "a risk of particularly serious harm to the external security of the Federal Republic of Germany".

In its indictment, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office also alleges treason in a particularly serious case in each case. This can be punished with a prison sentence of at least five years up to life imprisonment - for example, if the perpetrator has abused a position of responsibility that places him under a special obligation to protect state secrets.

Other incidents at the BND

The BND is Germany's foreign intelligence service. With around 6,500 employees, the agency informs the German government about developments of foreign and security policy importance.

A so-called mole - a double agent - was last exposed there in 2014. The Munich Higher Regional Court later found the 32-year-old guilty of treason and violation of official secrets for years of espionage and sentenced him to eight years in prison. Between 2008 and 2014, the trained office administrator had passed on more than 200 BND documents, some of them top secret, to the US intelligence agency CIA and received at least 80,000 euros for doing so.

The dimensions of the case involving Carsten L. and Arthur E. were described as "quite serious" by Konstantin von Notz, deputy leader of the Green parliamentary group. "It is an example of massive failures in self-security," the chairman of the Parliamentary Control Committee told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. It was "right and extremely important to take the case as an opportunity to fundamentally review the security precautions within the intelligence services".