Austrian ex-agent given jail term for Russia spying
An Austrian ex-intelligence officer, Egisto Ott, has been jailed for over four years for spying for Russia, accused of acting “in the interest of Russia and not of Austria.”
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VIENNA: An Austrian former intelligence officer was sentenced to more than four years in prison on Wednesday (May 20) after being found guilty of spying for Russia, in the country's most high-profile espionage case in decades.
Egisto Ott, 63, was handed a sentence of four years and one month behind bars for espionage against Austria, abuse of power and corruption.
He had faced up to five years in prison. Ott has appealed and the sentence is not final.
A fellow Austrian intelligence agent who helped Ott with some of his operations was handed a 15-month suspended prison term.
Ott had pleaded not guilty and had been on trial at a court in the Austrian capital since January 22 for activities carried out without a mandate between 2015 and 2022, according o prosecutors.
The prosecution was based in part on evidence provided to Austria by a western country that unmasked Ott during an investigation. A British witness was heard during the trial.
During the proceedings, jurors, who unanimously found him guilty, were told that he had submitted requests for assistance to Italy and the United Kingdom in order to obtain information in the interest of Russia and not of Austria.
He notably operated on the orders of Jan Marsalek, the Austrian former head of the German group Wirecard, who is wanted for fraud and believed to have taken refuge in Russia and suspected of working for Russian intelligence.
Ott told AFP on Tuesday that he rejected all the accusations, including suspected abuse of office, corruption and espionage to the detriment of Austria, and was "innocent".
"At no point did I sell or pass on in any way information to Russian intelligence services," he said, adding he had always acted within the law and on orders from his superiors.
According to the indictment seen by AFP, Ott risked inflicting "serious damage" on Austria's reputation among friendly intelligence services.
"ASSASSINATION MANUAL"
To gather information, Ott allegedly used "European databases" and sent "requests for assistance" to Italy and Britain, which resulted in those countries "unknowingly acting in the interest" of Moscow, prosecutors say.
Prosecutors also accuse Ott of handing over several phones of top Austrian interior ministry officials.
This gave the Kremlin access to thousands of contacts and put the safety of Ukrainian and Chechen refugees living in Austria at risk.
He is also accused of handing over an encrypted laptop containing "hardware for secure electronic communication not publicly known".
The laptop, designed by a German company, was handed over to Russia's FSB security service and sold on to Iran, according to the indictment.
Through his access to databases, Ott is alleged to have been able to leak information on individuals "at risk of reprisals" such as a former Russian spy who had taken refuge in Montenegro.
Investigators also found a document Ott had allegedly written after the 2019 murder of a Georgian man of Chechen origin in Berlin by an agent sent by Moscow.
Prosecutors dubbed it an "instruction manual for future smooth and successful assassinations on EU territory".
Ott was suspended from his post at Austria's intelligence services in 2017.
He has already been tried and acquitted on charges of violating official secrecy for allegedly passing information to a far-right politician.
NEST OF SPIES?
Austria, which long saw itself as a bridge between Moscow and the West and hosts several international organisations, is regularly described as a nest of Russian spies.
Around 220 Russian embassy staff are accredited in Austria, one of Russia's largest diplomatic missions in Europe.
Their presence has strained relations in recent years between the country of around nine million people and foreign intelligence services.
The conservative-led government, which also comprises Social Democrats and liberals, has pledged to crack down on the problem.
It wants to criminalise espionage targeting the EU or international organisations, as well as the recruitment of agents for foreign intelligence services.
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