Jail Term Suspended for Ex-Bonn Official Convicted of Spying
A former West German Defense Ministry official Tuesday received a suspended jail sentence for spying for Communist East Germany.
The Duesseldorf High Court sentenced Juergen Westphal, a senior official on the Bonn ministry’s central policy staff until his arrest last December, to one year’s imprisonment and suspended the term.
In its judgment, the court said that Westphal, 48, who admitted copying secret documents on the instruction of an East German agent named as Dr. Sternberg, “had not caused any major damage to West Germany.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
