The indictment before the military court: “Amidst the documents, NATO ‘leaks’ also emerged in the Ukraine crisis”
Sentence Walter Biot to the sentence oflife sentence. This is the request of the military prosecutor in the trial in which the frigate captain is accused, arrested by the Carabinieri del Ros in March 2021 on charges of espionage for having passed secret documents to a Russian official in exchange for five thousand euros.
During the hearing, the prosecution representative recalled the testimony and images of two cameras in Biot’s office, from which we see the officer at his desk pick up a box from which he takes out a cell phone, insert an SD card and photograph the pc screen and paper documents. Finally Biot inserts the SD in a box of medicines, hidden in the ‘library’ and puts everything in his backpack. “Among the 19 documents Biot photographed there were some NATO secret, highly confidential, and one Top secret” the prosecution explained in the courtroom. According to what was reported by witnesses during the hearing, as recalled by the prosecution in the courtroom, the documents in question concerned some of the fight against ISIS while others showed weaknesses and critical issues of the NATO Alliance, especially from a naval and maritime point of view, ‘flaws’ which would later emerge precisely during the crisis in Ukraine and the Russian invasion.
Biot was followed 24 hours a day in the following days and on 30 March 2021 he was arrested in the parking lot of a shopping center immediately after meeting a Russian official. “Biot traded in secret deeds and was caught red-handed” underlined the deputy military prosecutor. The military prosecutor, led by Antonio Sabino, disputes against Biot the accusations of revealing military secrets for the purpose of espionage, obtaining secret information for the purpose of espionage, taking photographs for the purpose of espionage, procuring and disclosure of news of a confidential nature and communications abroad of news that is neither secret nor confidential. The Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the Minister of Defense are civil parties in the proceeding. At the opening of the hearing, the military tribunal rejected the request of the state attorney to proceed behind closed doors.
The Rome prosecutor’s office is also proceeding against the frigate captain which, in the investigation by prosecutor Gianfederica Dito coordinated by the deputy prosecutor Michele Prestipino, disputes the accusations of espionage, disclosure of state secrets and corruption. Biot is on trial for these accusations before the Court of Assizes in Rome.
Source-www.adnkronos.com