A former German soldier has been sentenced to three and a half years in jail for sharing secret military information with Russia in the wake of the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
A court in Duesseldorf had found the defendant, named only as Thomas H, guilty of passing on information on his initiative from his post in the military procurement service.
In handing the sentence on Monday, judges noted that Thomas had no prior offences on his record, had not benefitted materially from helping Russia and was in poor health at the time he did so.
The 54-year-old had admitted the crime during his trial, claiming he was hoping to obtain information in return that would help him get his family to safety in time in the event of the conflict escalating into a nuclear war.
The espionage case is one of several uncovered in Germany since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Prosecutors had accused Thomas of photographing old training documents related to munitions systems and aircraft technology and dropping the material through the letterbox of the Russian consulate in Bonn.
The defendant “approached the Russian general consulate in Bonn and the Russian embassy in Berlin and offered his cooperation” in May 2023, prosecutors said.
Credit: Aljazeera.com
