intelligence
Suspicion of espionage – BND employees in court
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has charged an employee of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and a suspected accomplice. photo
© Christophe Gateau/dpa
A BND employee is said to have spied for Moscow during Russia’s war. The strictest security measures apply to the process. The court said you have to take your cue from James Bond.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office considers it treason: an employee of the The Federal Intelligence Service (BND) is said to have given Russia secret information.
Almost a year after the 53-year-old’s arrest, the trial of one of the most spectacular espionage cases of recent years begins today in Berlin under high security precautions. Co-defendant is a 32-year-old diamond dealer as a suspected accomplice.
The allegations of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office
The two Germans are said 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. He 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. is said to have printed out or photographed nine internal BND documents at his workplaces in Berlin and Pullach near Munich in September and October 2022. Arthur E. is said to have then handed over the spied secret information to the Russian secret service and met several times with FSB employees in Moscow. The meetings are said to have been arranged by a Russian entrepreneur whom E. knew. According to the indictment, he also booked and financed the businessman’s air travel.
The arrest of the men
Carsten L. was arrested in Berlin on December 21, 2022, and his apartment and workplace were searched. Arthur E. was caught at Munich Airport in January 2023 as a suspected accomplice when entering the United States. It was said at the time that the investigation was carried out in close cooperation with the BND and with the support of the US Federal Police FBI. Both men have been in custody since then. On August 24, the federal prosecutor’s office filed charges.
This is how the process works
According to court information, 51 trial days are initially scheduled until July 17, 2024. Because of a lot of information that is classified as secret, some of the negotiations could take place behind closed doors. The strictest security measures apply. Cell phones and laptops are not allowed in the hearing room. Wristwatches or pieces of jewelry such as signet rings or medallions are also not allowed to be worn. Even fountain pens or ballpoint pens are taboo. According to the court, pens will be provided on site for taking notes.
“When it comes to secret services, you have to take a cue from James Bond,” said court spokeswoman Lisa Jani, commenting on the procedure. Such strict security measures were also in place during the trial of the spectacular kidnapping of the Vietnamese ex-manager Trinh Xuan Thanh in Berlin in the summer of 2017. The Berlin Chamber Court convicted a defendant, also from Vietnam, in 2018 and an accomplice in 2023 for secret service agent activity and aiding and abetting deprivation of liberty each sentenced to several years in prison.
Assessment of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office
According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the current espionage case is a state secret within the meaning of the Criminal Code. Its disclosure is said to have “in both cases led to the risk of a particularly serious disadvantage for the external security of the Federal Republic of Germany.”
In its indictment, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office also assumes treason in a particularly serious case. This can be punished with a prison sentence of at least five years and up to a life sentence – for example if the perpetrator has abused a position of responsibility that particularly obliges him to protect state secrets.
Other incidents at the BND
The BND is Germany’s foreign intelligence service. The authority, which has around 6,500 employees, informs the federal government about developments of foreign and security policy importance.
The last time a so-called mole – a double agent – was discovered there was in 2014. The Munich Higher Regional Court later found the 32-year-old guilty of treason and violating official secrets for years of espionage and sentenced him to eight years in prison. Between 2008 and 2014, the trained office clerk passed on more than 200 BND documents, some of them top secret, to the US secret service CIA and collected at least 80,000 euros for them.
Green Party deputy Konstantin von Notz described the dimensions of the case surrounding Carsten L. and Arthur E. as “quite serious”. “It is an example of massive failures in self-security,” said the chairman of the parliamentary control committee to the Germany editorial network. It is “right and extremely important to use the case as an opportunity to fundamentally review the security precautions within the intelligence services.”