New indictment against Egisto Ott and Martin Weiss for breach of secrecy

According to the current criminal motion, Ott and Weiss are alleged to be the authors of the so-called "BVT compendium." It concerns a 26-page compendium containing the names of employees of the Ministry of the Interior along with their official assignments, which Ott is said to have sent to a journalist by post.

Ott is alleged to have entrusted or made accessible to a journalist secret information about the protection of the constitution in the summer of 2017. Specifically, he is accused of having disclosed information that had been "entrusted or made accessible to him exclusively by virtue of his office."

Content of the BVT compendium

The postal shipment also contained the claim that a then BVT unit head had received blank passports from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and had handed over three of them to representatives of the South Korean intelligence service.

Second charge relating to ATIB

In a further charge to be considered separately, Ott is additionally accused of having forwarded confidential information about an "occasional informant" of the BVT to a then FPÖ member of the National Council in December 2018. This information is said to have related to ATIB (Turkish-Islamic Union for Cultural and Social Cooperation), the Austrian affiliate of the Turkish religious authority.

Ott is said to have obtained his knowledge from Martin Weiss. The latter is therefore also indicted as an accomplice. Weiss is alleged to have "contributed to Ott's criminal act," as stated in a declaration by the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office.

Prosecution's reasoning

The Public Prosecutor's Office also justifies its indictment with the consequences of the alleged acts. "Through the described act, the right of the affected persons to protection of their personal data was violated, and the maintenance of public order and national security was endangered," the Public Prosecutor's Office states in its press release.

The presumption of innocence applies to Ott and Weiss. The defense has already announced that, in response to Ott's first-instance conviction from May, a nullity appeal and an appeal have been filed. The Public Prosecutor's Office has also filed an appeal against the severity of the sentence.

Proceedings to date and appeals

At the end of May, Ott was convicted in the first instance in Vienna of abuse of office, espionage, and other offenses, and sentenced to an unconditional prison term of four years and one month. The verdict is not final.

Since then, the Public Prosecutor's Office has "fired off" further criminal motions against the former intelligence official. Now the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office is indicting Ott and Weiss for the offense of "violation of a duty of secrecy" (formerly violation of official secrecy).

Between the various proceedings, the "BVT affair" has also occupied a parliamentary committee of inquiry and the prosecution authorities over the years. The BVT itself has since been dissolved.

Outlook: Joint trial in the autumn

The two criminal motions will likely be heard jointly at the Regional Court. A trial date against Ott can be expected in the autumn.

Whether Weiss will actually appear in court, however, is considered doubtful. Weiss has been in Dubai for some time and is not accessible to the domestic judiciary; he has so far evaded criminal prosecution. It would be a major surprise if Weiss were to appear at the trial.

Ott is represented by his defense counsel Anna Mair. On Monday afternoon, she declined to comment when contacted by APA.

In legal terms, Ott and Weiss are charged with violation of a duty of secrecy. The former provision on the violation of official secrecy has since been revised and adapted to data protection requirements.

The compendium, which forms the core of the new criminal motion, is 26 pages thick. According to the indictment, it contains allegations against the domestic intelligence service as well as personal data of employees of the Ministry of the Interior.

With the additionally raised charges, the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office is further expanding the already ongoing complex surrounding the BVT affair. It remains to be seen how the Regional Court will schedule the two proceedings together.