Oliver Towfigh Nia
08 September 2023•Update: 09 September 2023
BERLIN
An employee of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency (BND) and an alleged accomplice have been charged with treason for leaking secret information to the Russian intelligence agency, the Federal Prosecutor's Office announced in a press statement on Friday.
The federal prosecutor charged the accused before the Berlin Chamber Court on two counts, the most serious of which is treason.
Carsten L., a former senior BND employee, was arrested in Berlin on Dec. 21 last year on suspicion of trading state secrets with Russian agents from the Federal Security Service (FSB) and sharing intelligence about the Ukrainian war obtained through his work.
In January, the federal prosecutor's office arrested Arthur E. as a suspected accomplice. The German is said to have brought the secret information spied on by Carsten L. to Russia and handed it over to the secret service there.
According to the Federal Prosecutor’s statement, the FSB is said to have paid Carsten L. €450,000 (approximately $481,576) and Arthur E. at least €400,000 (approximately $428,068) for their services.
The two had known each other since May 2021 and met with a Russian in September last year who made contact with the FSB. The Federal Prosecutor's Office said Arthur E. had been to several meetings in Moscow.
According to the German Criminal Code, treason is punishable in particularly serious cases by a prison sentence of at least five years and up to a life sentence.
