German military officer sentenced to 3.5 years in jail for spying for Russia

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) - A German military officer was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for spying for Russia, according to media reports on Monday.

The Duesseldorf Higher Regional Court found the 54-year-old guilty of acting as a secret service agent, thus meeting the federal prosecutor's demand for punishment, according to the German Press Agency (dpa).

The captain had made a confession at the Higher Regional Court.

According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, the professional soldier had "almost obtrusively pandered" to Russia in order to give the Russian armed forces an advantage.

The representative of the Federal Prosecutor's Office criticized him for revealing military-sensitive information.

If the officer had betrayed not only official secrets but also state secrets, he would have been threatened with life imprisonment.

The captain had claimed that he was driven by fear of a nuclear escalation in the Ukraine war.

“It’s the biggest nonsense I’ve made in my life,” he said in his closing statement.

Officials from the Federal Criminal Police Office arrested the man in the southwestern German city of Koblenz on Aug. 9. He has been in custody ever since.