Vienna (AFP) - A former Austrian intelligence official pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that include handing over sensitive devices and selling secret information to Russia.

The trial is the latest to stem from a sprawling case that broke in 2024 and centres on former agent Egisto Ott.

The 63-year-old faces a slew of charges including suspected abuse of office, corruption and espionage to the detriment of Austria. He has denied the accusations.

Through his actions, Ott risked inflicting “serious damage” on Austria’s reputation among friendly intelligence services, according to the indictment seen by AFP.

Between 2015 and 2022, Ott is alleged to have acted on the orders of Jan Marsalek, an Austrian executive of collapsed German payment processing firm Wirecard, in return for a total payment of more than 80,000 euros.

Fugitive Marsalek is wanted on fraud charges and is suspected of working for Russia’s intelligence services (FSB).

On the first day of his trial in Vienna, Ott pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, according to an AFP reporter.

“I am innocent, and I reject all the prosecutor’s accusations,” Ott told the court.

The trial had kicked off at 9:00 am local time (0800 GMT) at Vienna’s criminal court, with dozens of journalists thronging around Ott, who was dressed entirely in black.

Ott could face up to five years in prison if found guilty, according to local media.

His lawyer, Anna Mair, defended Ott’s not guilty plea, claiming that if he did indeed carry out research, it was for Austria and approved by his superiors, and not for Russia.

“It is the job of spies to gather information, even outside their official mandate,” she told the jury.

- ‘Assassination manual’ -

To gather information, Ott allegedly used “European databases” and sent “requests for assistance” to Italy and Britain, which resulted in those countries “unknowingly acting in the interest” of Moscow, prosecutors say.

Prosecutors also accuse Ott of handing over several cell phones of top Austrian interior ministry officials.

This gave the Kremlin access to thousands of contacts and put at risk the safety of Ukrainian and Chechen refugees living in Austria.

He is also accused of handing over an encrypted laptop containing “hardware for secure electronic communication not publicly known”.

The laptop, designed by a German company, was handed over to the FSB and sold on to Iran, according to the indictment.

Through his access to databases, Ott is alleged to have been able to leak information on individuals “at risk of reprisals” such as a former Russian spy who had taken refuge in Montenegro.

Investigators also found a document Ott had allegedly written after the 2019 murder of a Georgian man of Chechen origin in Berlin by an agent sent by Moscow.

Prosecutors dubbed it an “instruction manual for future smooth and successful assassinations on EU territory”.

Austria long saw itself as a bridge between Moscow and the West, but in recent years the EU member country has been rocked by several cases centred on suspected spying for Russia.

Ott was suspended from his post at Austria’s intelligence services in 2017.

He has already been tried and acquitted of charges of violating official secrecy for allegedly passing information to a far-right politician.