The issue of national identity is taken seriously by Balkan people – including the least serious among them.
Spy’s Gay Lover ‘Revealed Secrets to Organised Crime'
Pristina | 27 November 2009 | Lawrence Marzouk
A German spy, working in Pristina, stands accused of betraying state secrets to his gay lover, who fed the information to organised crime groups and local intelligence agencies.
Anton K, a German agent for many years, and his interpreter Murat A appeared in court in Munich last week at the start of a trial which is set to once again embarrass the work of the BND, Germany’s spy network, in Kosovo.
Just 12 months ago, three BND agents left Kosovo in strange circumstances after being accused of bombing the offices of the International Civilian Office.
Anton K reported for duty in Kosovo’s capital in February 2005 officially as a diplomat working for the German Foreign Ministry.
He is believed to have rented an apartment in the diplomatic neighborhood of Dragodan, leaving his wife and children behind in southern Germany.
According to a report in Der Spiegel, Anton K changed his appearance so that he no longer looked like he had during his military days, growing his hair to shoulder length and walking around the city in flip-flops and polo shirts.
A few weeks later, he found his translator, Murat A, who was approved by the BND headquarters.
While working closely together, the two men fell in love and Murat moved into Anton’s apartment. This relationship should have reported to the BND, but the agent did not do so.
BND extended Anton K’s contract in 2007 until 2009 – that is, until the agent’s wife contacted his employers to reveal all.
She told BND officials that her husband had removed her name from his life insurance policy and made Murat A the beneficiary.
The BND launched an investigation and used a false pretext to order its two employees back to Munich, where they were arrested. But both were released the next day.
The prosecutor is accusing the agent of having made classified reports available to his lover while Murat A is alleged to have had connections with organised crime, as well as having been involved with the Albanian and Macedonian intelligence agencies.
Lawyers representing Anton K and Murat A have dismissed the allegations.
The trial started last week in Munich, but immediately stalled after the lawyers of Anton K and Murat A demanded access to classified investigation files.
