On Thursday, the largest espionage trial to be heard in Austria in decades began at the Vienna Regional Criminal Court with proceedings against Egisto Ott. The reading of the indictment was delayed by several minutes due to computer problems. The former chief inspector at the now-dissolved Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT) is accused of abuse of office and intelligence activities on behalf of Russia.
Courtroom 401 was well attended, though not completely full. The trial is expected to attract attention far beyond Austria’s borders. Ott is accused, among other things, of querying personal data without an official mandate at the request of former Wirecard executive Jan Marsalek—who is wanted under an international arrest warrant—and passing that information on in the interests of the Russian intelligence services. According to the prosecutor, Ott fabricated “false scenarios” to justify the data requests, some of which targeted a former Russian intelligence officer who had fallen out of favor in Moscow. Ott allegedly falsely linked the man, who had fled to Montenegro, to autonomous anarchist groups.
The prosecutor said similar actions affected other Russians who had turned their backs on the Russian state and whose whereabouts Russian intelligence sought to determine. Ott is accused of assisting in these cases while pretending to act under official orders. “It is all completely fabricated,” the prosecutor said.
Prosecutor Describes Actions as “Treason”
The prosecutor stated that Ott also relied on friendly police officers in Italy and the United Kingdom to obtain personal data. In doing so, Ott allegedly not only abused his office but acted in the interests of Russian intelligence. “Put simply, this amounts to treason,” the prosecutor said.
At the time of the alleged offenses, Ott’s professional duties at the BVT were limited to “support services,” and he was not authorized to conduct data queries. According to the prosecutor, the orders came from former BVT department head Martin Weiss, who is now in hiding and is alleged to have acted on Marsalek’s behalf. Weiss had already been on long-term sick leave for a year at the time, meaning the requests could not have been official. Some of the tasks were allegedly passed on to a second defendant.
The prosecution also alleged that mobile phones belonging to a former Interior Ministry cabinet chief and a SINA laptop containing sensitive intelligence material from an EU member state were passed via Marsalek to Russia’s domestic intelligence service, the FSB.
Ott Declines Comment Ahead of Hearing
Ott is expected to speak later in the day after prosecutors conclude their presentation. He and his lawyer, Anna Mair, arrived early and were surrounded by photographers and camera crews. Asked how he would respond to the charges, Ott said: “No comment.” Hearings of the defendants are also scheduled for Friday.
The trial against Ott and a co-defendant police officer is currently scheduled to run through early March, with a total of ten hearing days planned. Witness testimony is set to begin in February.
