Austrian in Russia spying probe freed from detention

An Austrian court on Wednesday ordered a former intelligence officer suspected of spying for Russia released from detention, as investigators continue probing the case. (AFP/File)

• The Vienna high court ordered the release of Ott, saying in a statement that there was no risk of him committing crimes once released
• He remained under investigation for suspected crimes

VIENNA: An Austrian court on Wednesday ordered a former intelligence officer suspected of spying for Russia released from detention, as investigators continue probing the case.
Egisto Ott -- a former agent of the now-defunct Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT) -- was arrested in late March.
He was accused of "systematically" providing information to the Russian secret services, allegations that have shaken the nation.
The Vienna high court ordered the release of Ott, saying in a statement that there was no risk of him committing crimes once released. But he remained under investigation for suspected crimes, it added.
Ott was suspended from his post in 2017 amid allegations of spying and briefly arrested in 2021 on these same accusations.
He was detained in March after London said his name had come up in written messages exchanged between a suspected spy arrested in Britain and Jan Marsalek.
Marsalek is the Austrian former chief operating officer of payments firm Wirecard, who fled Germany in 2020 -- reportedly to Russia -- over fraud allegations following the company's spectacular collapse.
Based on the seized messages, Ott was accused of having passed the smartphone data of three senior officials to Russia in return for payment.
He is also accused of having supplied a laptop containing confidential documents, according to the arrest warrant obtained by AFP.
Suspected of having helped Marsalek, Ott is accused, too, of having spied on Russia critics.
They included Christo Grozev, a journalist with the Bellingcat investigative website, who was investigating Moscow's spy networks. He left Vienna after a break-in at his apartment.
Contacted by AFP before his most recent arrest, Ott denied any accusation of spying for Russia.
Since his arrest, information from the prosecution has leaked, according to which moles close to the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) are still operating in Vienna.
The FPOe used to have a "cooperation pact" with Russian President Vladimir Putin's party.
It governed Austria as junior partner in a coalition government from 2017 to 2019 and polls suggest it could win the national elections in September.
It was during the current FPOe leader Herbert Kickl's time as interior minister in 2018 that the authorities raided the country's intelligence service, seriously damaging its reputation.
After Ott's arrest, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer called for heightened security in the country.
The EU country of nine million has traditionally seen itself as a bridge between the East and West, but in recent years has been rocked by several cases centred on suspected spying for Moscow.