Azerbaijan has denied a report from a German magazine that claimed a former German spy chief — arrested Tuesday on treason and espionage charges — used classified state secrets to prepare an “analysis” for Baku’s intelligence services in exchange for money.
The denial follows a Tuesday statement from Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office announcing the arrest of August Hanning, who served as President of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) from 1998 to 2005. Police also arrested his former chief of staff, identified only as Manfred D.
Prosecutors accuse Hanning of procuring “nearly two thousand documents, many of which contained classified information,” with the help of Manfred D., in “exchange for payment,” from 2010 to 2022. While Hanning had by then retired from public service, Manfred D. worked as chief of staff for several subsequent BND heads from March 2012 to March 2026.
Hanning allegedly “commercially exploit[ed]” this classified information in his private consulting work. In one instance, prosecutors allege he used state secrets to draft an “analysis” for an unnamed foreign intelligence agency.
“Whether this product reached the intended recipient has not yet been established,” the statement read.
Hours after the arrests were announced, German magazine Der Spiegel reported that the alleged client was an employee of Azerbaijani intelligence.
The allegation drew a sharp rebuttal on Wednesday from Azerbaijan’s Media and Broadcasting Council, a state agency, who in a Wednesday statement said the report was “disinformation and [is] considered part of an intensive smear campaign recently carried out against Azerbaijan.”
“The malicious intent of the forces behind this disinformation operation is to damage Azerbaijan-Germany relations, which have developed further in recent times.”
Also on Wednesday, Hanning’s lawyer told Der Spiegel that his client was “being wrongfully prosecuted,” and called the allegations that he passed on classified information “inaccurate."
