Top German agent and gay lover face spy trial in Germany

Nov 18, 2009, 15:36 GMT

   Munich - A senior German spy and his male lover, who was allegedly an undercover agent for a foreign country, went on trial in Munich Wednesday for wrecking a Balkans espionage network.

The lieutenant-colonel in Germany's BND secret service, who was covertly gathering intelligence in Kosovo, is accused of betraying state secrets to the Macedonian interpreter who became his partner.

Prosecutors said the breach blew the covers of 19 'sources' in Kosovo for the BND, which has its headquarters in Munich, and had made the German officer practically useless as a spy in Kosovo after he was unmasked.

The 42-year-old colonel's ex-wife tipped off the BND after he divorced her and named the Macedonian, 13 years his junior, as beneficiary of his life insurance policies. The German agent has been suspended, awaiting the verdict.

Prosecutors say the lover was allowed to read classified German documents as well as the agent's notebook computer during bedroom encounters in 2007 and 2008. The data leaks had seriously hampered German security interests abroad.

   They told the court the Macedonian, 29, was connected to organized crime and was an informer for a foreign spy service.

Outside the court, prosecutor Wolf-Dieter Dietrich said it seemed he had been working for either a Macedonian or an Albanian agency.

Both men are also accused of filing a fraudulent report that led to the BND paying 'interpreting fees' to the Macedonian of 14,700 euros (22,000 dollars). The German is not alleged to have received any monetary reward.

The trial, expected to last till next March, was adjourned after the indictment was read. Defence lawyers complained they had not been allowed to photocopy or even make handwritten notes from two binders of highly classified evidence. The court is to study the issue.

Germany arrested the two men on March 17 last year. A judge bailed them after ruling there was not enough evidence to hold them, but they were re-arrested a year later as the inquiry gathered pace.