Austrian Ex-Intelligence Officer Faces Trial for Alleged Spying for Russia

Trial of Egisto Ott and Its Implications

By Francois Murphy

Background of the Case

VIENNA, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Austrian former intelligence officer Egisto Ott went on trial on Thursday, accused of helping Russia hunt down opponents and selling it government phones and secure laptops at the behest of fugitive former Wirecard executive Jan Marsalek.

Key Accusations Against Ott

Ott's is the biggest spying case in Austria since a retired army colonel was convicted in 2020 of having spied for Moscow for decades. Ott, 63, denies the charges, which include supporting a foreign intelligence agency to the detriment of Austria, and pleaded not guilty.

Defense Arguments Presented

The trial could shed light on Russian intelligence-gathering in Europe, and provide more details on Marsalek's alleged spying operations across the continent after a London court convicted three Bulgarians last year of being part of a Russian spy ring run by the Austrian fugitive.

Impact on European Intelligence

Prosecutors accuse Ott of making unauthorised searches in police and other databases and asking counterparts in other countries to do the same in an attempt to locate people Moscow wanted to hunt down, such as Dmitry Senin, a former Russian intelligence agent who has now claimed asylum in Montenegro.

Ott, who ran undercover agents, has acknowledged saving the results of his searches in his private Gmail account or in unrelated case files of the agency he worked for, the now-defunct Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT).

Ott's lawyer Anna Mair said Ott had in fact been operating under the orders of a superior who had been contacted by an allied intelligence agency that had hoped to recruit Senin.

"He carried out or ordered these searches, but not for Russia," she told the court, adding that one witness would confirm the secret operation's existence.

'DO YOU THINK I'M THAT DUMB?'

Ott was "highly intelligent" and would have better covered his tracks if he had been acting illegally, she said. He later echoed that message.

"Do you really think I would do that? That I am that dumb?" Ott told the court.

Not all those Ott looked up were former Russian operatives.

One was Bulgarian journalist Christo Grozev, who worked for investigative outlet Bellingcat and led its reporting on the 2018 poisoning in Britain of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, which Britain blames on Russia.

Moscow denies all involvement in that case and has regularly accused Western powers of trying to enflame anti-Russian hysteria.

Prosecutors said Ott provided Grozev's address in Vienna to Marsalek, who then arranged a break-in at the apartment. Grozev later moved away from Austria for security reasons when he found out he was a target.

Ott told the court he had looked up Grozev because he wanted to discuss the findings of Bellingcat's investigations with him.

Marsalek, the former chief operating officer of Wirecard, the collapsed German payments firm, is on the run and believed to be in Russia. As such, he could not be reached for comment.

The trial continues on Friday and is likely to last for months.

(Editing by Andrew Heavens)