Report: Russia jails man for allegedly working with German spy agency

A man with German citizenship was sentenced to 13 years in prison for alleged espionage after a closed-door trial in Russia this March, according to a report in German media.

Der Spiegel magazine reported that a Moscow court convicted him for passing on Russian state secrets to Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the BND.

The man had never worked for the BND, his fiancée told Der Spiegel. According to the magazine, the German spy agency also informed the federal government that he was not one of their operatives.

Family and friends were said to be seeking help from officials in Berlin. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry told dpa on Sunday that the ministry was aware of the case but would not go into detail.

"It concerns a person with German and Russian citizenship. The German Embassy Moscow and the Foreign Ministry have been involved with the case from the beginning and have been and are in contact with the Russian authorities through various channels to obtain consular access."

The embassy is also in contact with the man's relatives, the spokesman said.

Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported in March that the man had been sentenced to 13 years and three months in a penal camp. He had pleaded guilty to cooperating with the BND and, according to the paper, had ruled out an agreement with the investigators on a reduced sentence in return for "uncovering" another case.

According to Kommersant, his statements affected the espionage case against former journalist Ivan Safronov. He was sentenced last year to 22 years in prison for treason.