Day: May 20, 2026

Former intelligence official Egisto Ott has been convicted of spying for Russia in what is being called Austria’s largest spy trial in years, News.Az reports, citing BBC.

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A jury in Vienna found Ott, 63, guilty of having handed over information to Russian intelligence officers and to Jan Marsalek, the fugitive executive of collapsed German payments firm Wirecard.

Ott, who denies the charges, was sentenced to four years and one month in prison. His lawyer has appealed against the verdict.

The spy scandal has revived fears that Austria remains a hotbed of Russian espionage activity.

In addition to spying, Ott was found guilty of misuse of office, bribery, aggravated fraud and breach of trust.

The court heard how he had supported “a secret intelligence service of the Russian Federation to the detriment of the Republic of Austria” by collecting secret facts and a large amount of personal data from police databases from 2015 to 2020.

Prosecutors said Ott gave this information to Marsalek and unknown representatives of the Russian intelligence service, and received payment in return.

Marsalek, who is also an Austrian citizen, is wanted by German police for alleged fraud and is currently believed to be in the Russian capital, Moscow, having fled via Austria in 2020.

Alleged to be a Russian intelligence asset, Marsalek is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice and, as such, could be arrested if found in the territory of any of the countries belonging to the 196-member international police organisation.

Prosecutors told the court that Marsalek commissioned Ott to obtain a laptop containing secret electronic security hardware used by EU states for secure electronic communication. The laptop, they said, was handed over to the Russian intelligence service.

Ott was also found guilty of having passed phone data from senior Austrian interior ministry officials to Russia. He obtained the work phones after they accidentally fell into the River Danube on an interior ministry boating trip.

The court heard how he copied their contents and passed them on to Marsalek, and Moscow.

The prosecution told the court that Ott was “not romantic about Russia”, but had acted out of financial motives and frustration with work.

Ott denied the accusations in court. He said that he had not worked for Moscow, but had carried out a covert operation in collaboration with a Western intelligence service.

The case has shed light on more of the alleged activities of Marselek, who has since been charged with fraud and embezzlement, suspected of having inflated Wirecard’s balance sheet total and sales volume.

Marsalek is also believed to have been the controller of a group of Bulgarians who were convicted in London in 2025 of spying for Russia.

When Ott was arrested in 2024, Austria’s then Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, described the case as “a threat to democracy and our country’s national security”.

The post Former Austrian intelligence officer guilty of spying for Russia​ appeared first on azeritimes.com.

The long-standing cover model, Giovanni Galizia, whose enigmatic smile has adorned the so-called “sexy priest calendar” for many of its 23 editions, is among those who never took holy orders. Galizia, now a 39-year-old flight attendant for a Spanish airline, was just 17 when he posed for the photograph, News.Az reports, citing The Independent.

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He recalled the shoot as a “lark,” telling The Associated Press: “It was the smile of an embarrassed kid, because I saw all my friends in front of me laughing out loud because I was dressed like I was a priest.”

The image, showing him in a clerical collar against a granite church wall in his native Palermo, has been recycled year after year. This week, a story in the Rome daily La Repubblica brought nationwide attention to the calendar, revealing it could be more accurately dubbed “the fake priest calendar.”

The Vatican has declined to comment on the matter, as the calendar is not affiliated with the Holy See.

Officially named Calendario Romano, each edition showcases 12 black-and-white portraits of men, mostly in clerical attire. Photographer Piero Pazzi, who also creates a calendar of Venetian gondoliers, was behind the lens.

Galizia confirmed he only knew one other subject in the calendar, a French man, who was also not a priest. Pazzi, however, said that at least one-third of the models in the already released 2027 calendar are indeed priests, though he offered no further details.

Despite his widespread image, Galizia says he has never been recognised on the street, though his cousins once gifted the calendar to their grandmother, “and they all died laughing.”

Both Galizia and Pazzi insist the calendar was intended as art, not deception. Galizia draws a parallel to actors playing priests in TV dramas, noting that no one assumes they are actual clergy.

He explained: “Of course, it winks a bit at the dynamic between the sacred and the profane, because it is clear that seeing a world that is distant and in some ways so lofty as the ecclesiastical world, with such a fresh-faced young man, creates a kind of dissonance.”

He expressed bewilderment at the “sexy” interpretation of the black-and-white close-ups, a sentiment echoed by Pazzi.

“There’s a tendency to confuse what is beautiful with what is sensual, because nowadays, especially in today’s world, which is quite sexualized, beauty is expressed only through sensuality,” Galizia mused, adding: “That said, I appreciate the observation and take it as a compliment — because managing to be sexy in a priest’s collar is no small feat.”

Pazzi estimates several thousand copies of the Roman calendar are sold annually, though he wouldn’t disclose exact figures. While Pazzi receives royalties, Galizia, who signed a release form at the time of the photo shoot, has never sought payment. The calendar retails for around 8 euros in shops surrounding the Vatican and throughout Rome’s historic centre, with one shop clerk, Hassam Mohammad, reporting sales of a handful daily.

Despite its unofficial nature, the calendar has found an unexpected advocate in Father Domenico, a South Korean priest. Walking near the Vatican, he noted the calendar’s popularity in his home country, particularly among young people who view it with humour.

“They often think priests are stiff and distant,” Father Domenico said. “But looking at this calendar, they think priests are more familiar, and priests can be funny. I think in Korea this calendar is very famous, and it is OK.”

The post Rome ‘sexy priest’ calendar star admits never attended seminary​ appeared first on azeritimes.com.

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