Italian officer gets 30 years for spying for Russia PHOTO

An Italian navy officer got 30 years in jail for spying for Russia.

Frigate captain Walter Biot, 58, a father of four from Pomezia outside Rome, was found guilty by a military court of selling secret documents to a functionary of the Russian embassy in Rome, ANSA reports.

The judges recognised general extenuating circumstances in the case.

Military prosecutors in Rome on March 9 requested that Biot, accused of selling classified documents to the Russian embassy official in March 2021 in exchange for money, be handed a life term in jail.

The prosecutors presented images allegedly showing Biot using his cell phone to take photos of a series of documents and a computer screen.

"Some of the 19 documents photographed by Biot were highly reserved NATO secret ones and one was top secret," a prosecutor said.

"Biot traded secret documents and showed a high degree of infidelity and capacity for crime".

The prosecutor alleged that Biot may have sold classified documents on other occasions too.

Italy expelled two Russian embassy officials in 2021 in relation to the case.