A Federal Court of Justice judge issued a formal arrest warrant on Wednesday for August Hanning, detained a day earlier on suspicion of espionage and attempted treason. Prosecutors have not named the foreign service involved.
A judge of Germany's Federal Court of Justice issued a formal arrest warrant on Wednesday against former foreign-intelligence chief August Hanning, the Office of the Federal Prosecutor said. Hanning, 80, was detained on Tuesday over suspected espionage and attempted treason. The warrant is a further court step after that detention.
Hanning led the BND from 1998 to 2005. Prosecutors allege that in 2010 he agreed to pay for confidential information from an official identified as Manfred D, chief of staff to successive BND heads until March this year, and that he received about 2,000 documents through June 2022. They say he used the material in an analysis for a foreign intelligence service.
Hanning's lawyer said he partially admitted the allegations but denied selling information, Reuters reported. Manfred D also faces formal arrest. The prosecutor's office has not named the foreign service. Der Spiegel, cited by Al Jazeera, reported contact with an Azerbaijan intelligence representative; that country link is not in the official statement used here.
The case is at the arrest-warrant stage. No trial date was given in the Reuters dispatch.
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- Hanning's lawyer said he partially admitted the allegations but denied selling information.
- Prosecutors allege he received about 2,000 documents through June 2022.