World

German Spy Official Goes on Trial Accused of Selling Secrets to Russia

To hear the federal prosecutor tell it, the case was a story straight out of a spy thriller: an unremarkable-seeming manager at Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, selling highly classified material to Russia’s secret service even as war raged in Ukraine, with a globe-trotting diamond dealer as a go-between.

Both men face charges of high treason, carrying potential sentences of life imprisonment, in a closely watched and even more closely guarded trial that began this week before a panel of five judges in Berlin’s highest criminal court.

The case, scheduled to last into the summer, caps one of the gravest espionage scandals in recent German history, one that has shredded the confidence of Germany’s partners in the security of its intelligence.

The intelligence worker accused of selling secrets has been named under German privacy rules as Carsten L., a 53-year-old retired officer who worked at Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, or B.N.D., as a director of technical reconnaissance. Previous reporting by The New York Times has identified him as Carsten Linke. The man accused of ferrying the secrets has been identified as Arthur E., a 32-year-old self-employed entrepreneur.

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