A security guard at the British Embassy in Berlin was arrested on suspicion of leaking state secrets Russia Live in a two-bedroom apartment in a neat manor in Potsdam.
David Smith is Arrested at his house On Tuesday, the contents of his apartment are likely to be the focus of an ongoing investigation into whether he sold the documents to “representatives of Russian intelligence agencies” in exchange for cash.
On Thursday, Smith’s neighbor had little to say to the 57-year-old British national—a woman sitting on a garden terrace reading a book, only a few doors away from his apartment, only said that he “kept silent”.
The German police did not protect his apartment, which meant that the public could easily peek inside through the half-open shutters.
Detectives will assess whether there is anything related to the investigation inside. They also want to know the extent of the review process at the embassy that led him to work at the end of last year.
On Thursday, photos released by various media agencies showed that the Russian flag was hung in his apartment, as well as military memorabilia from eastern Ukraine.Other items include a cup printed with the new Russian flag, the name adopted by the Separatist Republic Donetsk and Lugansk.
Visible is the framed badge of the Ukrainian Berkut Special Police Force, which fought back against protesters in 2014 EuroMaidan protest And it was favored by opponents of the new Kyiv government.
On a bookshelf hangs a partially obscure emblem of the so-called Somali battalion, a Russian-backed separatist military unit that fought against the government of Kiev and participated in the battle at Donetsk Airport in 2014.
Several of its fighters used the fighting names Givi and Motorola, which appeared frequently in Russian official media.
The sailor cap seen on the shelf is part of the uniform of the Black Sea Fleet stationed in Sevastopol. The city, along with the rest of the Crimean Peninsula, was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.
These projects seem to show interest in a particular historical period-whether there is anything related to the investigation will undoubtedly form part of the investigation led by the German authorities.
There are certainly very few Smith’s apartments — the current market value is around 700 to 800 euros (£595 to £680) a month for rent — making it stand out from the rest of the manor’s apartments. From the rubber plants on the windows to the neatly colored knives hanging next to the kettle in the small kitchen, the small kitchen and the living room are separated by a partition wall.
A PlayStation, cute toys, including a bear wearing a sombrero and a plush Doberman, and some artificial flower arrangements, which can also be seen through the window.
Contrary to some previous reports, Smith’s work in Berlin is not a private contractor, but a “local employee” directly employed by the British Embassy.
Although the embassy outsourced some security work to Securitas and outsourced construction management to CBRE, both companies categorically denied that Smith was or was on their payroll. “Securitas did not know the arrested person,” a company spokesperson told the Guardian.
Compared with civil servants stationed in the UK or senior diplomats representing the country abroad, employees of local embassies usually undergo a shorter review process.
Smith was arrested on suspicion of acting on behalf of foreign intelligence agencies.The relevant part of the German Criminal Code, Article 99, paragraph 1, mainly applies to Germany But it can be combined with the country’s NATO force protection law to expand to cover allied countries, which means that the suspect may eventually be tried in a German court.
German law criminalizes the “dissemination or provision of facts, objects or knowledge” to foreign intelligence agencies, so it has a broader wording than the British Official Secrets Act, which clearly stipulates that it is illegal or secret to transmit sketches, plans, models, and notes. Official password or code word.
According to German law, Smith can be detained before trial while investigating his behavior and before he is fully charged.
