A Eurocopter Tiger
Photo: AP
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German Convicted of Spying for Russia
A former engineer with the German Eurocopter company has been convicted by a Munich court of committing industrial espionage for Russia. He was sentenced to an 11-month suspended prison sentence. The court ruled that there was sufficient evidence to show that 44-year-old Werner G. had provided information on civilian Eurocopter helicopters to Russian special services in the course of two years. The defendant was not involved in military espionage, however. The punishment for military spying is much more severe.
According to the accusations against him, Werner G. gave secret documents to representatives of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service between 2004 and 2006 in exchange for ˆ13,000. His defense argued that Werner G. provided comparatively insignificant information on technical details of the German civilian helicopters. The prosecution countered that the line between industrial and military espionage is a fine one, and the information obtained from him could be used to elucidate military modifications of the same helicopters.
Eurocopter is a German subsidiary of the European EADS air and space concern. The company makes the Fennec, Panther, Tiger and Cougar military helicopters, and the Ecureuil, Dauphin and Super Puma civilian helicopters.
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