A FORMER German spy has gone on trial in Munich accused of sharing classified information with his gay lover.
The case has put an uncomfortable media spotlight on Germany’s secret service agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), which neither enjoys nor seeks the high profile of MI6 or the CIA.
A secret service nightmare and a tabloid dream, the case of top-secret information for sale is populated by secret gay lovers, mafia bosses and, as whistleblower, a scorned and jealous wife.
In 2005, the 42-year-old BND agent and former army lieutenant, identified only as Anton K, left behind his wife and children in southern Germany to work as a diplomat and agent in Kosovo’s capital, Pristina.
His job was to build up local contacts and file classified reports to BND headquarters.
According to media reports, he was approached one day on the street in Pristina by Murat Afrim, a Macedonian-Albanian shop assistant in his mid-20s who had grown up in Germany and spoke the language fluently.
With BND permission, Anton K hired Mr Afrim as a translator and fixer. Some time later the two men began an intimate relationship and Mr Afrim moved into Anton K’s Pristina apartment.
The BND became aware of the relationship when the agency was contacted by Anton K’s wife in 2007, complaining that her husband had replaced her name on his life insurance policy with Mr Afrim’s.
The agency launched an investigation and engaged the state prosecutor. It claims Mr Afrim passed on knowledge of the BND’s Kosovo operation to organised criminals and local intelligence services.
In addition, the prosecutor claims the two men defrauded the agency of €14,700 in bogus expense claims.
The two men were arrested in March 2008 but later released due to lack of evidence. Earlier this year they were arrested again.
A lawyer for the two men says the charges are untrue and the younger man’s contact with underworld figures in Kosovo was part of work agreed with the BND.
The defence says the case is part of a homophobic campaign against the couple, who now live near Stuttgart.
"The core of the affair is so ridiculous," defence lawyer Sascha Jung told Der Spiegelmagazine, "that it's a complete mystery to us as to why the BND would knowingly risk the damage potentially resulting from its actions."