Austria’s largest spy trial for many years places ex-intelligence officer within the dock

[ad_1] Bethany Bell Vienna correspondent

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/a193/live/5ac52770-f6e1-11f0-a4dd-a5af35a571cb.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/a193/live/5ac52770-f6e1-11f0-a4dd-a5af35a571cb.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a193/live/5ac52770-f6e1-11f0-a4dd-a5af35a571cb.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/a193/live/5ac52770-f6e1-11f0-a4dd-a5af35a571cb.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/a193/live/5ac52770-f6e1-11f0-a4dd-a5af35a571cb.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/a193/live/5ac52770-f6e1-11f0-a4dd-a5af35a571cb.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/a193/live/5ac52770-f6e1-11f0-a4dd-a5af35a571cb.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a193/live/5ac52770-f6e1-11f0-a4dd-a5af35a571cb.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Reuters A man with a black jacket and tie and dark hair and glasses stares at a camera" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Reuters Egisto Ott is accused of accumulating massive quantities of knowledge and handing data to Russian intelligence

Former intelligence official Egisto Ott goes on trial in Vienna on Thursday, accused of spying for Russia in what's being dubbed Austria's largest spy trial in years.

Egisto Ott, 63, is charged with having handed over data to Russian intelligence officers and to Jan Marsalek, the fugitive govt of collapsed German funds agency Wirecard.

Ott denies the costs.

Jan Marsalek, who can also be an Austrian citizen, is needed by German police for alleged fraud and is presently believed to be in Moscow, having fled through Austria in 2020.

The topic of an Interpol Purple Discover, he's alleged to be an intelligence asset for the FSB, Russia's secretive safety service.

The spy scandal has revived fears that Austria stays a hotbed of Russian espionage exercise and observers may also be watching intently for particulars that would emerge about Marsalek.

Prosecutors in Vienna say Egisto Ott "abused his authority" as an Austrian intelligence official by accumulating massive quantities of non-public knowledge, resembling areas, automobile registration numbers, or journey actions.

They are saying he did this between 2015 and 2020 with out authorisation, typically utilizing nationwide and worldwide police databases.

Prosecutors additionally cost him with supporting "a secret intelligence service of the Russian Federation to the detriment of the Republic of Austria" by accumulating secret info and a considerable amount of private knowledge from police databases between 2017 and 2021.

They are saying Egisto Ott gave this data to Jan Marsalek and unknown representatives of the Russian intelligence service, and obtained cost in return.

In 2022, prosecutors say, Jan Marsalek commissioned him to acquire a laptop computer containing secret digital safety {hardware} utilized by EU states for safe digital communication. The laptop computer, they are saying, was handed over to the Russian intelligence service.

He's additionally suspected, reviews say, of getting handed cellphone knowledge from senior Austrian inside ministry officers to Russia.

Austria's Customary newspaper says Egisto Ott apparently obtained the work telephones after they by accident fell into the River Danube on an inside ministry boating journey.

He's alleged to have copied their contents and handed them on to Jan Marsalek, and Moscow.

Egisto Ott is charged with abuse of authority and corruption and espionage towards Austria and faces as much as 5 years in jail, if he's discovered responsible.

When he was arrested in 2024, Austria's then Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, described the case as "a menace to democracy and our nation's nationwide safety".

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/593d/live/b326ff70-f6e0-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/593d/live/b326ff70-f6e0-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/593d/live/b326ff70-f6e0-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/593d/live/b326ff70-f6e0-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/593d/live/b326ff70-f6e0-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/593d/live/b326ff70-f6e0-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/593d/live/b326ff70-f6e0-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/593d/live/b326ff70-f6e0-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Munich Police Munich police wanted poster for Jan Marsalek" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Munich Police Jan Marsalek, former govt at Wirecard, is believed to have escaped to Moscow

In a separate improvement, prosecutors within the Austrian city of Wiener Neustadt have advised the BBC {that a} former MP, Thomas Schellenbacher, has been charged with serving to Marsalek to flee following the collapse of the Wirecard firm in 2020, when it emerged that €1.9bn was lacking from its accounts.

Schellenbacher is alleged to have helped Jan Marsalek fly to Belarus, from Unhealthy Vöslau in Austria, in June 2020.

Schellenbacher was an MP for the far-right Freedom Celebration (FPÖ), which has been accused by Austria's Inexperienced Celebration, now in opposition, of enabling Russian espionage, of performing as "an extension of Russia's arm" in Austria.

The FPÖ and its chief Herbert Kickl have denied the allegations - and haven't confronted any authorized motion in reference to any of them.

Marsalek, who was the Wirecard's Chief Working Officer, has since been charged with fraud and embezzlement, suspected of getting inflated firm's stability sheet whole and gross sales quantity.

He's additionally believed to have been the controller of a gaggle of Bulgarians who had been convicted in London in 2025, of spying for Russia.

Messages from that trial reveal Marsalek has had cosmetic surgery to change his look in addition to particulars of his life as a fugitive.

"I am off to mattress. Had one other beauty surgical procedure, making an attempt to look otherwise, and I'm useless drained and my head hurts," he wrote to one of many Bulgarians, Roussev, on Telegram in February 2022.