A FORMER employee of Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency who is charged with treason gave the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 200 secret documents, prosecutors said at the start of his trial yesterday.
The arrest last year of the man, identified only as Markus R, cooled relations between Berlin and Washington, and followed revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) snooped on Germany.
The 32-year-old, who has suffered from a disability since early childhood that affects his mobility, is accused of passing information to the CIA from 2008 until mid-2014 in return for at least €95,000.
He received the money from a handler named as Craig during meetings in Salzburg and other Austrian cities, prosecutors said.
“At the BND I had the impression that nobody found me credible,” the defendant told the Munich court. “With the CIA it was different. One could prove himself.”
Known as Uwe to his handlers, who included a CIA agent named Alex, Markus R provided the Americans with details of the BND’s structure, key activities, deliberations and collaboration with foreign spy agencies, prosecutors told the court.
They said the CIA gave him a notebook with a special email programme, which he used to provide the agency with weekly updates. In mid-2014, Markus R also handed over three documents to the Russian consulate in Munich, they said.
Wearing a dark grey suit, Markus R appeared shy as he answered questions put forward by the judge.
He grew up in former East Germany with a locksmith father and a mother who worked as a precision mechanic. He had an interest in computers.
Arrested in July last year, he was charged on August 11 this year on two counts of treason, breaking official secrets and corruption.
A guilty verdict could mean a life sentence.
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