German Spy Charged With Treason For Aiding Central Intelligence Agency And Russian Federation

A spokeswoman for the federal prosecutors’ office declined to comment on the report.

The 32-year-old identified as Markus R. was employed by the German intelligence agency BND but he was also spying for both the CIA and the Russian secret service, prosecutors said in charges laid at a Munich court. He also allegedly offered his services to the Russian consulate in Munich in 2014, and started supplying them with data.

He provided the Americans with numerous official and BND internal documents and in return received at least 95,000 euros ($106,000). The classified files released by Snowden documented that the NSA had been actively tapping German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s smart phone.

His arrest in July past year, at the height of the NSA spying controversy, caused Germany to demand the Central Intelligence Agency station chief be removed from Berlin.

The United States was therefore able to get an idea of Germany’s spying interests, the reports claimed. The relationship between the two allies became strained following the leaks of secret files by former U.S.

Though President Obama and Merkel have appeared to fix their relationship in recent months, surveillance remains a sensitive topic in Germany, due in part to the memory of the Nazi regime and the Stasi, the oppressive secret police that operated in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Also of note, Merkel has recently had to deal with public criticism relating to new documents showing that the BND intelligence agency has been working with the American NSA to spy on German citizens. And earlier this summer, Germany’s top prosecutor brought treason charges against two journalists for publishing secret documents detailing Germany’s plans to enhance its monitoring of social media.

The case had emerged in the wake of revelations the United States had been carrying out widespread surveillance on communications. A German government spokesperson notedt she could comment because the case in question is an ongoing investigation.