Egisto Ott — a former agent of the now-defunct Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT) — was arrested in late March.

He was accused of “systematically” providing information to the Russian secret services, allegations that have shaken the nation.

The Vienna high court ordered Ott’s release, saying in a statement that there was no risk of him committing crimes once he was released. However, it added that he remained under investigation for suspected crimes.

Ott was suspended from his post in 2017 amid spying allegations and briefly arrested in 2021 on these same accusations.

He was detained in March after London said his name had come up in written messages exchanged between a suspected spy arrested in Britain and Jan Marsalek.

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Marsalek, the Austrian former chief operating officer of payments firm Wirecard, fled Germany in 2020—reportedly to Russia—over fraud allegations following the company’s spectacular collapse.

Based on the seized messages, Ott was accused of passing the smartphone data of three senior officials to Russia in exchange for payment.

According to the arrest warrant obtained by AFP, he is also accused of having supplied a laptop containing confidential documents.

Spying on Russia critics

Suspected of having helped Marsalek, Ott is accused, too, of having spied on Russia critics.

They included Christo Grozev, a journalist with the Bellingcat investigative website who was investigating Moscow’s spy networks. He left Vienna after his apartment was broken into.

Contacted by AFP before his most recent arrest, Ott denied any accusation of spying for Russia.

Since his arrest, information from the prosecution has leaked, according to which moles close to the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) are still operating in Vienna.

READ ALSO: Austria’s spy arrest puts Cold War spotlight back on Vienna

The FPOe used to have a “cooperation pact” with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s party.

It governed Austria as a junior partner in a coalition government from 2017 to 2019, and polls suggest it could win the national elections in September.

The authorities raided the country’s intelligence service during the current FPOe leader Herbert Kickl’s tenure as interior minister in 2018, seriously damaging its reputation.

After Ott’s arrest, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer called for heightened security in the country.

The EU country of nine million has traditionally seen itself as a bridge between the East and West, but in recent years, has been rocked by several cases centred on suspected spying for Moscow.