VIENNA, Oct 16 — Austrian prosecutors filed charges today against a former senior official accusing him of leaking confidential documents linked to the 2018 Novichok poisoning of a Russian ex-double agent in England.
Johannes Peterlik, who served as the highest ranking civil servant at the foreign ministry from 2018 to 2020, was removed as Austrian ambassador to Indonesia in 2021 and a judicial procedure was opened against him.
Prosecutors said in a statement they had filed charges against Peterlik for “abuse of official authority and breach of confidentiality”.
Prosecutors said Peterlik requested “without official necessity” a classified report in October 2018 that included the formula for Novichok — a nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
The report by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) contained information about the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in March 2018 in England.
Peterlik then showed several OPCW documents to a former police officer named as Egisto Ott, according to prosecutors.
Ott, an ex-intelligence official, was charged in August over spying for Russia.
Prosecutors said Peterlik “knowingly abused his authority with the intent to harm Austria’s right to strict confidentiality”.
Showing the documents to Ott “endangered Austria’s interest in adhering to international legal obligations and maintaining trustworthy cooperation with international authorities”, they added.
Peterlik faces up to five years in prison if found guilty.
No date for the trial has been set as yet. Peterlik can still contest the charges against him.
The case against Peterlik stems from investigations into massive fraud at German company Wirecard.
Jan Marsalek, Wirecard’s former chief operating officer and an Austrian, reportedly attempted to impress business associates by showing them documents containing the recipe for Novichok.
Marsalek is also reported to have had internal OPCW documents about its investigation into the poisoning.
He now lives in Moscow under a false identity, according to an international media investigation published last month.
Ott, in turn, is accused of passing on secret information for years, including to Marsalek.
Austria has been repeatedly hit by Russian spying scandals in recent years, tainting the reputation of the Alpine country, which is an EU but not Nato member. — AFP
