To hear the federal prosecutor tell it, the case was a story straight out of a spy thriller: an unremarkable-seeming manager at Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, selling highly classified material to Russia’s secret service even as war raged in Ukraine, with a globe-trotting diamond dealer as a go-between.
Both men face charges of high treason, carrying potential sentences of life imprisonment, in a closely watched and even more closely guarded trial that began this week before a panel of five judges in Berlin’s highest criminal court.
The case, scheduled to last into the summer, caps one of the gravest espionage scandals in recent German history, one that has shredded the confidence of Germany’s partners in the security of its intelligence.
The intelligence worker accused of selling secrets has been named under German privacy rules as Carsten L., a 53-year-old retired officer who worked at Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, or B.N.D., as a director of technical reconnaissance. Previous reporting by The New York Times has identified him as Carsten Linke. The man accused of ferrying the secrets has been identified as Arthur E., a 32-year-old self-employed entrepreneur.
Public access to a portion of the trial will be limited because of the sensitive security details under discussion. The judges ruled that three full pages of the 13-page indictment could not be read in public court because it would reveal state secrets.
Mr. Linke’s defense attorney, the well-known criminal lawyer Johannes Eisenberg, has chafed against the extent of the restrictions. In court on Thursday, he cited a report in the German magazine Der Spiegel, which said Mr. Linke had revealed to Russia’s main spy agency that Western intelligence could access an encrypted messaging service used by the Wagner group, the paramilitary force that for much of the war fought alongside Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
Mr. Eisenberg has disputed the value of the information his client is accused of leaking. Laying out his defense strategy on Thursday, he suggested the case was a setup, possibly by Ukrainian and U.S. intelligence agencies, trying to destroy the B.N.D.’s reputation.
“The B.N.D. is not neutral in this,” said Mr. Eisenberg, sketching out a case that most of the evidence presented in court came either from the German agency’s internal investigations or from the testimony of Mr. E., whom he called an “impostor.”
According to prosecutors, the connection between the defendants began with a chance meeting in May 2021, and was re-energized after Russia invaded Ukraine less than a year later. The two first tried to help a wealthy Russian man obtain a German visa in return for a stake in a mine in Africa, but things became more serious when the Russian came back with demands for sensitive intelligence.
Mr. E., prosecutors say, made three trips from Germany to Russia in fall 2022. Meeting with operatives from the Russian agency, the F.S.B., at a restaurant and an apartment in Moscow, he is accused of bringing them material that was classified as “top secret” by German intelligence, part of which originated from partner agencies in other Western countries. The Russian agents in return gave him a list of 12 questions. During one dinner they are said to have handed Mr. E. four envelopes, taped shut and containing hundreds of thousands of euros in cash.
Prosecutors accuse Mr. Linke of having searched for specific highly classified material using databases and by putting in official requests with his colleagues. Then, they say, he both printed out material and photographed it from his screen using a phone Mr. E. had supplied and smuggled both through internal controls to the outside, where he handed them to Mr. E.
Mr. E. was arrested in Florida a few weeks after the police arrested Mr. Linke in Berlin. Before being accompanied to Germany, where he was handed to the federal police, Mr. E. had given extensive interviews to the F.B.I.
The trial is being held under unusually stringent security conditions. Journalists are searched at two separate control points. Computers, phones, jewelry, and even pens may not be taken into the courtroom (the court supplies its own pens for reporters). Even the chief justice of the court, Detlev Schmidt, had to take off his watch before entering. Inside the courtroom are many yards of white shelving holding 49 thick binders: Judges and attorneys are not allowed to take the binders out of the courtroom, and photocopies and scans are not permitted to prevent the information contained within from leaking.
Mr. Linke, a father of two and children’s soccer coach, first entered the ornate early-20th century courtroom on Wednesday. Sporting a dark blue suit, a light blue button-down, an expensive watch and a fresh haircut, he sat in the glass prisoner box taking notes. As an intelligence worker, he had top secret clearance for the 15 years he worked for the B.N.D. His last stint, which only lasted a couple of months, was as director of the vetting department, which does background checks on newly hired staff.
Mr. E., 32, with a shaved bald head, wore all black and seemed more relaxed than Mr. Linke. He scanned the visiting galleries and vigorously nodded during passages of the defense’s opening statement. His defense appears to be at odds with the one announced for Mr. Linke.
At the end of his opening statement, one of his lawyers, Guiseppe Olivo, said everyone would see that Mr. E. had “contributed significantly” to the clarification of the case. Mr. E. is likely hoping to avoid a lengthy sentence by cooperating with the court.
While Mr. E. has talked to both the F.B.I. and German authorities about his role in the events and has promised to give a full accounting of his involvement in court, Mr. Linke has refused to talk. On Tuesday, the judge read passages of a note that guards had found at the prison complex where both men are being held separately, and which prosecutors say was a message from Mr. Linke to Mr. E.
“Your interrogations are the linchpin,” Mr. Linke is said to have written. Another part read: “Apart from your statements, there are only indications.”
“Just take everything back,” Judge Schmidt read from the prison note aloud in front of a rapt courtroom.