A German army officer has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for spying for Russia.
The person, recognized solely as Thomas H, had been a captain within the military’s procurement workplace when he contacted Russian embassy in Berlin and handed on secret army data.
German police arrested him within the metropolis of Koblenz in August and accused him of sharing images of munitions coaching programs and plane know-how.
The 54-year-old admitted to a Düsseldorf courtroom on Monday to passing data to Russia, saying it was a “silly concept” and that he regretted his actions.
“It’s the largest mess I’ve ever made in my life,” he informed the courtroom.
Prosecutors mentioned the person approached the Russian embassy in Berlin and the consulate in Bonn unprompted and “virtually persistently provided himself to Russia”.
They mentioned he photographed delicate army information and dropped data via a letterbox on the consulate constructing in Bonn.
In a closing assertion, the person mentioned he had contacted the embassy after turning into involved concerning the danger of nuclear battle pushed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He added that he was particularly involved that Germany’s provide of heavy weapons to Ukraine may draw it into the battle. In accordance with authorities figures, Berlin provided about €6.6bn (£5.62bn) value of army {hardware} to Ukraine in 2022 and 2023. This included 40 Leopard 1 tanks and 100 infantry combating autos.
The person claimed that persistent overwork had impaired his capability to suppose critically about his actions.
His lawyer mentioned he had been influenced by a stream of pro-Russian propaganda and disinformation that he had been consuming on TikTok and Telegram on the time. He famous that his consumer had additionally joined the far-right Various for Germany (AfD) occasion.
He added that the choice got here throughout a four-day interval “through which [his client] crossed crimson strains”.
Whereas prosecutors mentioned the leaks had revealed delicate army data, they famous that he had not disclosed state secrets and techniques, an act which might have attracted a a lot heavier lifetime sentence.
The trial comes as a slew of Russian spy affairs have hit headlines in Germany.
In April, two males with twin Russian-German citizenship had been arrested, accused of spying on US military bases in Germany the place Ukrainian troopers had been being educated.
Since December, an worker for German home intelligence, Carsten L, has been on trial accused of passing on categorized knowledge to Russian brokers.
And in February 2023, a former safety guard on the British embassy in Berlin was sentenced to 13 years in jail for passing on giant quantities of delicate data to the close by Russian embassy.
The affairs have sparked a debate about whether or not safety measures in Germany are tight sufficient. The federal government has admitted that extra instances are more likely to come to mild.
In a latest tv interview, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann mentioned that Germany was a goal for overseas powers. He added that over the following few months, extra spies had been more likely to be “unmasked”.
